GIass_ 
Book 



~r 7 y 

Calvin 



SECRET PROVIDENCE. 



TRANSLATED 

BY 

JAMES LILLIE. 



NEW YORK : 
ROBERT CARTER, 58 CANAL STREET. 

1840. 



£6 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year of 
our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and forty, by 

JAMES LILLIE, 

in the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New York. 



Ji i if § 



W. B. & T. SMITH, PRINTERS, 
89 Nassau, and 128 Fulton Streets. 



Errata. 



Page iii, line 7 from the bottom, for " determination? 
read "contemplation." 

Page iii, line 2 from the bottom, insert " usually" be 
tween "has" and "some." 



CONTENTS. 



Translator's Preface, - - -• - 3 

Calumniator's Preface, 7 

John Calvin's Reply to the Calumniator's Preface, 9 
Articles alleged by the Calumniator to be taken 

from the Works of John Calvin, 15 

Art. I. 

God, by a simple and pure act of his will, created 
the greatest part of the world for destruction, - 15 

Art. II. 

God not only predestinated to damnation ; but he 
also predestinated Adam to the causes of damna- 
tion ; whose fall he not only foresaw, but deter- 
mined from Eternity by a secret decree, and 
ordained that he should fall; and that this might 
come to pass in his time, he set forth the apple, 
the cause of the fall, - - - 33 

Art. III. 

The sins which are committed, are committed not 
only by the permission, but also by the will of 
God. For it is frivolous to make a distinction 
between the permission and the will of God, so 
far as sin is concerned. Those who do so, wish 
to gain God's favour by compliments and adula- 
tion, 38 

Art. IV. 

That all the crimes which any man commits, are the 
good and just works of God, --54 

Art. V. 

That no adultery, theft, or homicide is committed, 
without the will of God being concerned. Ins. 
Cap. 14. Distinc. 44, - - - 59 



u 



CONTENTS. 



Art. VI.- 

The Scripture openly testifies that crimes are ap- 
pointed, not merely by the will, but by the au- 
thority of God, - - - - - 59 

Art. VII. 

What men do in sinning, they do by the will of God, 
since very often the will of God is inconsistent 
with the precept, -----63 

Art. VIII. 

The hardening of Pharaoh, and consequently his 
obstinacy and rebellion, were the work of God, 
even by the testimony of Moses, who ascribes the 
whole rebellion of Pharaoh to God, ----- 77 

Aifr. IX. 

The will of God is the highest cause of the harden- 
ing of man, - . ,78 

Art. X. 

Satan is a liar by the command of God, - - - - 83 
Art. XI. 

God gives will to those doing wrong ; Pie even sug- 
gests wicked and dishonourable affections, not 
only permissively but efficaciously, and that for his 
own glory, 85 

Art. XII. 

The wicked, by their wickedness, do God's work 
rather than their own, 93 

Art. XIII. 

We sin necessarily by the design of God, when we 
sin by our own, or by chance, ------- 95 

Art. XIV. 

The wickedness which men perpetrate by their 
own volition, proceeds also from the volition of 
God, 95 



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 



If the principles discussed in the following pages were 
merely theoretical, the translator would deem the time 
which he has bestowed on preparing them for the press, 
little better than thrown away. This, however, in his 
judgment, is not the case. On the contrary, he is per- 
suaded, that the subject treated is eminently practical, 
and that the glory of God, no less than the good of man, 
Is essentially involved, in maintaining the doctrine that 
" all things are of God." 

The form in which the subject is presented, will, it 
is hoped, not be uninteresting, as it seems to combine 
the spirit and point of actual debate, the calmness of 
solitary determination, and the clearness and force of 
consecutive reasoning. The desire to unite these seem- 
ingly incompatible advantages, has given to speculative 
discussions the shape of dialogues. But there is much 
force in the objection urged by Hume against the prac- 
tice, that the author has some opinions of his own to 
maintain, and that the arguments which he puts into the 



IV 



translator's preface. 



mouth of his antagonist are not always the best that 
might be found, nor presented in the language most 
fitted to give them their full weight. Here, however, 
the reader does not listen to Hervey musing under the 
feigned names of Theron and Aspasio ; nor to the amia- 
ble and ingenious Berkeley idealising as Hylas and 
Philonous: but he hears the greatest of the Reformers 
vindicating his principles; point by point, against every 
cavil, that an objector both subtle and fluent could 
devise. It is not believed that the enemies of Calvinism, 
will, in general, disclaim their champion, though his vizor 
is down ; while those who are opposed to them will be 
satisfied with the defence. 

There has been recently, and still is, some difference 
fin opinion as to what doctrines were really maintained 
by Calvin; and opposing controversialists have respec- 
tively appealed to his authority in defence of their own 
sentiments. 

A distinguished writer* has amused himself in ima- 
gining how the stern Reformer would look, were he to 
return to earth, on some calling themselves Calvinists, 
and how quickly he would tell them to begone to the 
camp of Arminius. The fine fancy of that gentleman 
will not be wanting to enable him to imagine how Cal- 
vin would deal with himself in the case supposed. 
Though dead, he yet speaks in this little volume, and 
commands him no longer to assume the uniform of the 



* Dr. Charming. 



translator's preface. 



V 



Christian host, but to betake himself forthwith to the 
camp of Infidel. 

It is probable that many, besides the writer referred 
to, may be offended with the plain language of the Re- 
former. The translator, however, did not feel at liberty 
to consult the taste of such, by softening epithets which 
modern courtesy has discarded. So far as this had been 
done, the fidelity of the translation must have suffered ; 
and besides, he is not disposed to concur in the indiscrimi- 
nate condemnation, which it is but too common to pro- 
nounce on every thing like severity and indignation in 
theological debate. He more than suspects that the call 
for mildness, proceeds fully as often from indifference to 
all doctrinal distinctions, as from Christian meekness. 
He cannot shut his eyes to the fact, that the loudest cen- 
sors of such asperities, are often the very men who go 
the greatest lengths in political invective. The reason 
is, they are interested in their politics. Let them remem- 
ber that we Christians are interested in our creed ; and 
that if they feel justified in their warmth, because they 
believe their property and even liberty are involved ; 
we are not ashamed of our zeal when convinced that 
riches inexhaustible and liberty everlasting, are at stake. 

The names which Calvin frequently applies to his 
assailant, and which perhaps will be most apt to shock 
a merely modern ear, are dog and swine. It must not, 
however, be forgotten that Christ himself uses the same 
expressions, and that in this He is followed by an Apos- 



vi 



translator's preface. 



tie. The question for consideration is whether Calvin 
applies the terms as Christ and Peter did. This is a 
point for Christian wisdom to determine ; and the 
translator knows not the authority now living on the 
earth, whose ju dgment on this matter is entitled to out- 
weigh, or even balance the Reformer's. 

It '.vas at first intended that notes should be appended 
to the text, for the purpose of explaining what might 
seem obscure, and enforcing what the necessary 
limits of his reply prevented the author from insisting 
on. The purpose, however, has been abandoned. 
Second thoughts suggested it as more respectful to the 
celebrity of the author, as well as becoming the obscurity 
of the translator, to send forth the work in its naked 
majesty. Should the attempt help, in any measure, the 
present age to appreciate more adequately than it does, 
him, whom when but 22 years old, Scaliger honoured as 
the most learned man in Europe, whom Melancthon 
distinguished among the mighty as pre-eminently " the 
divine ;"* and who almost persuaded Bolingbroke to be 
a Christian; above all, if it shall be blessed by Almighty 
God to advance his own honour in the maintenance 
of his truth, and the salvation of men in the reception 
of it; the labour of the translator will not have been in 
vain. 

Rhinebeck, 15 May, 1840. 



* 0' OzoXoyus* 



CALUMNIES OF A CERTAIN FELLOW 

AGAINST THE DOCTRINE OF 

JOHN CALVIN, 

ON THE 

SECRET PROVIDENCE OF GOD, 

WITH CALVIN'S REPLIES. 



CALUMNIATOR'S PREFACE, 



John Calvin, though your name is very famous in 
almost the whole world, and your doctrine has undoubt* 
edly many abettors, yet it has also many adversaries. 
Now, as it is my eager wish, that doctrine were one, as 
truth is one, and that all if possible might harmonise in 
it, I have supposed that you should be frankly informed, 
of the objections continually made to your doctrine, that 
if they are false, you may refute them, and send the 
refutation to us, that so we may be able to withstand the 
gainsay ers : and let your reasons be such as the people 
can understand. 

Though there are many things in regard to which 
many differ with you, yet deferring other matters to 
another time, I shall at present handle with you, the 
single argument concerning fate or predestination, both 
because this point is exciting great tumults in the church, 



viii translator's preface. 



which we would fain see terminated ; and because in 
this instance, the arguments of the adversaries, cannot 
as yet be refuted, from the books which you have hitherto 
published. 

I will here set down in a desultory way, certain arti- 
cles taken from your books, and tossed about in this 
discussion; I will then subjoin what is ordinarily alleged 
against each article, that you may perceive what 
requires an answer. 



JOHN CALVIN'S 

REPLY TO THE 

CALUMNIATOR'S PREFACE. 



That ray doctrine has many adversaries, is neither 
unknown nor astonishing to me: for it is no new thing 
for Christ, beneath whose standard I contend, to be the 
object of abuse to many babblers. On this account 
alone I grieve, that through my side is pierced the sacred 
and eternal truth of God, which ought to be reverently 
esteemed and adored by the whole world. But when I 
see that from the beginning, truth has been subject to the 
many calumnies of the wicked, and that Christ himself 
(for the Celestial Father has so decreed) must needs be 
the mark for contradiction, this also should be patiently 
endured. The virulent assaults of the wicked, however, 
shall never make me repent of that doctrine, which 1 
am assured has God for its author. Nor have I so little 
profited, by the many conflicts in which God has exer- 
cised me, that I should now be alarmed at your futile 
outcry. Besides, so far as you are privately concerned, 
my masked adviser, this is some consolation, that you 
could not be ungrateful to a man, who had obliged you 
more than you deserved, without at the same time be- 
traying foul impiety against God. I know indeed that to 
you Academicians, there is no sweeter game, than under 

1 



1 



ANSWER TO THE 



colour of doubt, to pluck up every particle of faith in the 
hearts of men: and how witty in your apprehension 
that raillery is, which you cast against the secret provi- 
dence of God, is sufficiently evident from your style, 
dissemble it as you may. But I summon you and your 
companions to that Tribunal, whence by-and-bye the 
Celestial Judge, by the lightning alone of his face and 
breath, will effectually prostrate your audacity. Mean- 
while, I am confident, that I can soon render your 
smartness as offensive to honest and wise readers, as it 
is secretly pleasant to yourself. 

You demand of me a refutation of your treatise which 
you sent to Paris from Geneva, by stealth ; that un- 
known to me, the poison might be scattered far and 
wide, without its antidote ; and while you affect some 
desire of information, you suppress your name, for no 
reason that I can imagine, but because you were aware, 
that I had something at hand, which would at once de- 
stroy the credit of you and your gang. From many 
marks, however, I can conjecture, nay I may conclude, 
who you are ; but it is of no importance to me, whether 
you wrote with your own hand, or whether you dictated 
to a Scottish preacher of your frenzies, with the design 
of his carrying to Paris, what it was unlawful to publish 
here. I could wish indeed, either that this pamphlet 
had another author, or that you were a different man 
from what you are ; and that you will never be till you 
have felt the loveliness of candour. Though in your 
intercourse with me you were never deficient in respect, 
yet it was easy to see how prone you are by nature to 
cavil. This vice, which you aggravated by childish 
whims, I endeavoured to correct, but in vain ; because 
your natural tendency had been aggravated by a 
wretched vanity, which strained after the praise of acute- 
ness, on the ground of a few very silly, and worse than 
insipid jokes. Nor can you defend yourself by the ex- 
ample of Socrates, who was wont to sift by his objections, 
opinions of every kind. For, while that man was illus- 
trious, for many distinguished excellencies, they were all 



calumniator's preface. xi 

tarnished by that vice, in which alone, you, with no less 
impropriety than eagerness seek to rival him. 

You demand of me a refutation of your treatise, such 
as the people can understand. Now, I have hitherto 
laboured to accomodate myself, to the apprehension of 
the simplest, by a style of instruction, at once perspicu- 
ous and pure. But if you receive no statement as argu- 
ment, except what the sense of carnal man approves, by 
such proud disdain, you do, with your own hand, bar 
the approach to that doctrine, the knowledge of which 
begins in reverence. Nor am I ignorant of the jibes of 
you, and those like you, with which you assail God's 
mysteries ; just as if everything must lose its grace and 
authority, that does not strike your fancy. And what is 
meant by requiring me to refute every one who shall 
choose to rail at me ? For even Socrates, whose authority 
you falsely allege, would have submitted to no such rule. 
I for my part have no fondness for indiscriminate imita- 
tion ; but if there ever was, not only in this age, but in 
any other, a man who constantly set himself against the 
wicked, by dissipating their calumnies ; even those who 
dislike and injure me, will give me some credit for that 
kind of industry. Wherefore your rant is the more in- 
tolerable, because, while with the blind impetuosity of 
impudence, you trample on all my labours, you enjoin 
a task already three or four times accomplished. 

But you maintain there is one point, on which I am 
worsted by my adversaries; in so far as no sufficient 
materials for a defence, can be found in anything which 
I . have hitherto published. That point, you say, is pre- 
destination or fate. I would it had been your design, 
either modestly to inquire, or at least to dispute with 
candour, rather than by outraging all decency, and for 
the sake of extinguishing the light, to confound things 
the most opposite. Fate, according to the Stoics, is a 
necessity springing out of a changeable, and complicated 
labyrinth, and binding in some measure God himself. 
Instructed by the Scriptures, I define predestination, as 
the free counsel of God, by which he regulates the hu- 



Xll 



ANSWER TO THE 



man race, and all the individual parts of the universe, ac- 
cording to his own immense wisdom, and incomprehen- 
sible justice. Now, if the depravity of your disposition, 
.and the lust of contention, and the pride of the devil so 
blind you, that you see nothing at midday, yet this dis- 
tinction will demonstrate to all readers who have eyes, 
what fairness there is in your criticism. Besides, had 
you not grudged even a glance at my books, you might 
thence have inferred, how little pleased I am with that 
profane word fate ; nay you would have read, that the 
same objection was long ago, malignantly and invidiously 
brought against Augustine, by foul fellows, and men 
like yourself; and in the reply of that pious and holy 
doctor, there is a brief statement of what is sufficient for 
my defence to day. 

In the articles too, which you say have been extracted 
from my books, the case with me is the same as with 
that author of happy memory. As ihe malevolent were 
aware, that this doctrine was not popular, they with the 
design of aggravating the dislike of it, flung about pas- 
sages, partly mutilated, partly distorted, so that it was 
impossible for the uninformed, to come to any but an 
unfavourable judgment. But though at first sight many 
supposed them extracted from his writings, yet he com- 
plains that they were falsely imputed to him ; inasmuch 
as they had either industriously heaped together broken 
sentences, or by changing a few words, had artfully 
corrupted pious and sound doctrine, in order to create 
offence in the minds of the simple. That those articles 
which you boast of propounding from my books, are 
precisely of the same kind, wise and honest readers will 
easily discover, even though I were silent ; and to such 
it will not be troublesome, to compare my doctrine with 
your foul calumnies. And this I maintain, first of all, 
that you act neither a manly nor an ingenious part, when 
you specify no passages, to show intelligent readers, 
that I write what you allege. For what can be more 
unjust, when I have published so many books, than 
vaguely to declare, that out of about fifty volumes, four- 



calumniator's preface. xiii 



teen articles have been gathered. It had unquestiona- 
bly been better, were a drop of honesty in you, either to 
quote my sentences word for word; or if you perceived 
anything dangerous to have warned your readers of 
what passages to beware. Whereas, by branding all my 
works promiscuously, you would destroy the remem- 
brance of them ; and what in my books, might be read 
without any offence, you malignantly corrupt for your 
own convenience, and so render hateful. Now while I 
do not blame the prudence of Augustine, in so temper- 
ing his replies as to avoid odium, when he met the un- 
principled craft of his adversaries, yet I think it better 
frankly to repel your slanders, than to give the smallest 
symptom of turning my back. 



i» 



ARTICLES GATHERED 

FROM THE 

LATIN AND FRENCH WORKS OF 

JOHN CALVIN, 

ON THE 

SUBJECT OF PREDESTINATION. 



Article First, i. e. Calumny First. 

God, by a simple and pure act of his will, 
created the greatest part of the world for 
destruction. 

Against the First. 

Such is the first article ; take likewise what is said 
against it. They say, the first article is against nature, 
and against Scripture. Of nature they allege thus. 
Every animal naturally loves its offspring ; now this na- 
ture is from God ; from which it follows that God loves 
his offspring. For he would never make animals love 
their offspring, if he himself likewise did not love his. 
And this they prove by the following argument. The 
Lord hath said, " Shall I cause to bring forth, and shall I 
not bring forth," (Is. lxvi. 9.) Hence by a parity of rea- 
son, they deduce the argument, God makes animals love 
their offspring ; therefore he himself loves his offspring. 
But all men are the offspring of God ; for God is the 
Father of Adam, from whom all men are sprung: there- 
fore he loves all men. But to create in order to destroy, 



16 



ON SECRET 



Is not the part of love, but of hatred. Therefore he 
created no man for destruction. Besides creation is a 
work of love, not of hatred ; consequently in love, not 
in hatred, God created all men. Moreover, there is no 
beast so savage, (not to speak of man,) as to design the 
misery of it's young, in their production. How much 
less God? Were he not worse than even a wolf? 
Christ argues thus ; " If ye being evil, know how to 
give good gifts unto your children, how much more 
God? Your adversaries also argue thus: If Calvin 
though wicked, would yet be unwilling to beget a son 
for misery, how much less God ? These and such like 
things they speak concerning nature. 

Of Scripture on the other hand, they speak thus: 
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good ; 
therefore, man, whcm he had made, was very good. 
But if God had created him for destruction, he had 
created a good thing for destruction, and loves to 
destroy what is good ; which is impious even to think. 
Besides God created one man, to place him in paradise, 
which is a happy life ; therefore, he created all men for 
a happy life. For all were created in one. And if all 
fell in Adam, all must have stood in Adam, and that on 
the same condition as Adam. Again, " I have no plea- 
sure in the death of the wicked." Again, " God is not 
willing that any should perish ; but would that all should 
come to the knowledge of the truth." Again, if God 
created the greatest part of the world for destruction, it 
follows that his anger must be greater than his mercy ; 
and yet the Scriptures declares that he is slow to anger; 
so that his anger extends only to the third or fourth gene- 
ration, while his mercy reaches even to the thousandth. 

J. Calvin's Reply to the first article and the 
criticism of the Calumniator. 

The first article you take hold of, is, 
that God, by a simple and pure act of 



PROVIDENCE. 



17 



his will, created the greatest part of the 
world for destruction. Now, all that 
about " the greatest part of the world," 
and "the simple pure act of the will of 
God" is fictitious, and the product of the 
workshop of your malice. For, though 
God from the beginning decreed what- 
soever was to come to pass with the whole 
human race ; yet this way of talking is 
no where to be met with in my writings, 
that the end of creation is eternal de- 
struction. Therefore like a swine, you 
upset with your snout, a doctrine of good 
odour, in order to find in it something of- 
fensive. Besides, though the will of God 
is to me the highest of all reasons, yet I 
everywhere teach, that where the reason 
of his counsels and his works, does not 
appear, the reason is hid with him ; so 
that he has always decreed justly and 
wisely. Therefore T not only reject, I 
detest the trifling of the Schoolmen about 
absolute power, because they separate 
his justice from his authority. Now see, 
dog, what you gain by }^our froward 
barking. I, subjecting as I do the human 
race to the will of God, loudly declare 
that he decrees nothing without the best 



18 



ON SECRET 



reason, which if unknown to us now, 
shall be cleared up at last. You, thrust- 
ing forward your "simple and pure act 
of will" impudently upbraid me with 
that, which I openly reject in a hundred 
places or more. At the same time, I do 
acknowledge this as my doctrine, that 
not merely by the permission of God, but 
by his secret counsel also, Adam fell, and 
in his fall, dragged down all his descend- 
ants into everlasting perdition. Both as- 
sertions, as I perceive, are offensive to 
you, as repugnant at once to nature and 
Scripture. Your argument from nature, 
is founded on the love which every ani- 
mal naturally feels towards its own off- 
spring. You hence infer, that God who 
has inspired even brute beasts with this 
affection must love men no less, since 
they are his offspring. But it is too gross 
to insist on finding in God the author of 
nature, whatever you discern in the ox, 
and the ass $ as if God were bound by 
the very same laws which he has given 
to his creatures. To secure the continu- 
ance of every race of animals, God has 
endowed each with the appetite of gene- 
rating offspring. Now expostulate with 



PROVIDENCE, 



19 



him, why from all eternity content with 
himself alone, he kept his energy, as it 
were, barren. Undoubtedly he must be 
always like himself. If then, you may 
be judge, he violated the order of nature, 
so long as he chose rather to be without 
offspring, than to put forth his productive 
power. Besides, while beasts fight even 
to death, in behalf of their young, how 
comes it that God allows little infants to 
be torn and devoured by tigers, or bears, 
or lions, or wolves ? Is it because his 
arm is too short to reach forth protection 
to his own ? You perceive how wide a 
field is open to me, if I cared about ex- 
posing your follies ; but this alone is 
enough for me, that there are evidences 
of God's love, toward the whole human 
race, sufficient to convict all who perish, 
of ingratitude. Nor yet is this inconsist- 
ent with that peculiar love which he re- 
stricts to the few, whom he is pleased to 
select among many. Certainly he openly 
declared, by his ancient adoption of the 
family of Abraham, that he by no means 
embraces the whole human family, with 
equal regard. So by rejecting Esau, 
and preferring his younger brother Jacob* 



20 



ON SECRET 



he gave an illustrious proof of that free 
favour, which he bestows only on whom 
he pleases. Moses proclaims that one 
nation had been chosen by God to the 
rejection of all the rest. The prophets 
every where affirm, that the only reason 
of the superiority of the Jews, was the 
unmerited favour of God. Will you 
deny him to be God ; because in this 
you discover no resemblance to a tiger 
or a bear ? It was not in vain that Christ 
addressing the little flock (and not the 
human race, nor even indiscriminately 
the Jewish nation) said, " fear not, it has 
pleased the Father to give you the king- 
dom because none but those whom he 
reconciles to himself, in his Only Begot- 
ten Son, experience his paternal love, in 
the hope Jof eternal life. Now, if you 
mean to subject God to the laws of na- 
ture, you will accuse him of injustice, in 
condemning us all to the penalty of eter- 
nal death, on account of the sin of one. 
One sinned, all are dragged to punish- 
ment; and not only so, but from the 
crime of one they all contract contagion, 
and are born corrupted and tainted with 
a mortal malady. Worthy Critic ! what 



PROVIDENCE. 



21 



have you to say to this ? Will you con- 
demn God as cruel, because he has pre- 
cipitated all his offspring into ruin, for 
the fault of one man ? For though Adam 
destroyed himself and his descendants, 
yet we must ascribe the corruption and 
the guilt, to the secret determination of 
God ; because, the sin of one man were 
nothing to us, if the Celestial Judge did 
not doom us to eternal ruin on account 
of it. 

And observe, how skilfully you quote 
a passage of Isaiah to gloze your error. 
Whereas it seemed incredible, that the 
Church of God, which in Babylonish 
captivity, not only was deprived of her 
children, but had become barren, should, 
with renovated vigour, be more fruitful 
than before ; God speaks thus : " Shall 
not I, by whose strength women bring- 
forth, be able also to produce offspring?" 
Under this pretext, you compel God to 
assume ail the properties of the brutes. 
You audaciously argue, because God 
makes animals love their offspring, that 
he too must love his offspring. Though 
this were admitted, it would not follow 
that he loves them in the same way. Be- 



22 



ON SECRET 



sides, this does not prove, that he may 
not as a just Judge reject those, whom, 
as the best of Fathers, he follows with 
affection and indulgence. 

Again, you object that creation is a 
work of love, not of hatred ; that conse- 
quently God creates from love, and not 
from hatred. But you do not distinguish, 
that though all are odious to God in 
Adam, yet his love shines in creation. 
Therefore, any one endowed with mod- 
erate judgment, and candour, will ac- 
knowledge the frivolity of that which you 
fancy so plausible. What follows, it is 
not so much for me to refute with my 
pen, as for the magistrate severely to 
punish by the sword. Shall it be imputed 
to my books, that men are undeniably 
born to misery ? How comes it that we 
are exposed not merely to temporal mise- 
ries, but also to eternal death, if not be- 
cause God has cast us into a common 
condemnation, on account of the sin of 
one man. In this miserable ruin of the 
human race, it is not my opinion that is 
read, but God's manifest work that is 
beheld. You, with no misgiving, vomit 
the impious declaration, that God is worse 



PROVIDENCE. 



23 



than any wolf, if he resolves to create 
men for misery. Some are born blind, 
others deaf, and some are prodigiously 
deformed. If you, indeed, may be judge, 
God is cruel in afflicting his offspring 
with such disadvantages before thev 
come into light. But by-and-bye you 
shall feel, how much better it had been 
for you, never to have seen at all, than 
to have been so perspicacious in discus- 
sing the secrets of God. You, forsooth, 
accuse God of injustice, nay call him a 
monster, if he manage the human race, 
in a manner different from w 7 hat we do 
our children. Why then does he create 
some dull, others stupid, and others 
idiots ? As some of the Jews fables of 
the fauns and satyrs being unfinished, 
because their Maker was cut short by 
the Sabbath, will you be so absurd as to 
maintain that such persons slipped in- 
complete out of the hands of God ? Such 
sad sights should rather teach us reve- 
rence and modesty, than produce a debate 
out of our brains with the Maker of 
heaven and earth. If I meet an idiot, I 
am admonished by the sight, what God 
might have created me. As many as 



24 



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are stupid and dull, just, so many mirrors 
does God present, in which I may behold 
a power, no less awful than wonderful. 
But you allow yourself to rail at him as 
worse than a wolf, for consulting so ill 
for his creatures. 

True, Christ declares, that God who 
is good, acts more kindly towards his 
sons, than men who are evil ; but before 
you can turn this to your purpose, you 
must prove, that all are equally the sons 
of God. Now, it is clear, that all lost 
eternal life in Adam ; whereas the grace 
of adoption is special. Whence, it will 
rather follow, that so many as are alien- 
ated from God, are abhorred by him. 
Your texts, are darts hurled at random, 
by the hand of a madman. God saw the 
things which he had made, paid they 
were very good ; hence you infer that 
man was very good ; and again conclude, 
that God was unjust if he created a good 
being for destruction. 

The nature of man's criminal rectitude 
I have sufficiently expounded, and more 
than sufficiently, in many passages. 
Doubtless he was not better than the 
devil, before he had fallen from his in- 



PRO VIDEN GB, 25 

tegrity. Now were I to grant you, that 
man, as well as apostate angels, was 
created for happiness ; and yet maintain, 
that in respect of future defection, they 
were destined to destruction ; what will 
you make of it ? For, undoubtedly, God 
knew what would happen to both ; and 
what he himself would do, he at the same 
time decreed. As to permission, we shall 
consider it afterwards in its own place. 
But now if you object that the foreknowl- 
edge of God, is not the cause of evil, I 
would only demand of you, if God lore- 
saw the fall, both of the devil and of man 
before creation, why did he not by a 
timely precaution prevent their proneness 
to fall? From the beginning of the world, 
the devil forthwith alienated himself from 
the hope of salvation ; man as soon as 
created, overwhelmed himself and pos- 
terity in fatal ruin. If their perseverance 
was in the hand of God, why did he suf- 
fer them to fall ? Nay why was neither 
furnished with even a moderate degree 
of constancy ? Turn as you will, I will 
hold this principle, that however weak 
and liable to fall, man might be created, 
this weakness was very good ; because 
2* 



26 



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his ruin was so soon to show that out of 
God, there was no strength, no stability. 
Whence it is also evident, that your 
prating about men being made for hap- 
piness, is lame and thoughtless assertion. 
For though I acknowledge that there was 
nothing in man contrary to salvation, I 
prove that happiness was not predesti- 
nated for all in the secret council of God. 
I will briefly repeat the same thing in 
other words. If the natural completeness, 
with which man was endowed at his first 
creation, be alone considered, then he 
was made for happiness, inasmuch as no 
cause of death will there be found. If 
on the other hand we inquire concerning 
secret predestination, we come upon 
that deep abyss, which should call forth 
instant admiration. 

Besides, if you were imbued with the 
slightest relish for piety, you would 
readily acknowledge that these Words 
" all things were very good," were not 
intended to express their perfection, as 
if the Holy Spirit declared, that nothing 
was wanting to the excellence of any 
creature, but rather to cut off occasion of 
railing from you, and those like you. 



PROVIDENCE, 



2% 



For, however, you may deny that it was 
good for men to be created under this 
law, by which his fall was immediately 
to corrupt the whole world, yet God de- 
clares that this arrangement was pleasing 
to himself, and therefore most upright. 
That you may the better understand the 
meaning of Moses, he is not asserting how 
just or upright man was ; but to quell 
your barking, he teaches that the consti- 
tution established by God in regard to 
man, could not be surpassed in rectitude. 
Accordingly, although in speaking of 
each of God's w r orks, he declares that 
God saw what he had made, and they 
were every one good, he does not affirm 
any such thing of man in particular ; but 
to the narrative of his creation, he only 
adds in general, " whatever God made 
was very good," under which declara- 
tion, it is unquestionable, we must com- 
prehend what Solomon teaches, that the 
wicked are created for the day of evil. 
The sum is ; though man by nature was 
good, this rectitude, w T hich was frail and 
fading, was not inconsistent with the di- 
vine predestination, which doomed him 
to perish for his own sin, who, consider- 



28 



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ing merely the purity of his nature, nay 
the excellence with which he was adorn- 
ed, had been created for happiness. And 
therefore you falsely and foolishly infer 
that he was created to perish though 
good ; when it is manifest he fell by his 
own infirmity, and did not perish till he 
became obnoxious to a just condemna- 
tion. That these two things are mutually 
harmonious, we shall see more clearly 
by-and-bye. You object that God does 
not desire the death of the sinner. But 
mark what follows in the prophet, the 
invitation of all to repentance. Pardon, 
therefore, is offered to all who return. 
Now we must ascertain, w T hether the 
conversion which God requires, depends 
on every man's free will, or whether it is 
the special gift of God. In so far then, 
as all are invited to repent, the prophet 
properly denies that the death of the sin- 
ner is desired. But the reason why he 
does not convert all, is hid with himself. 

Your hacknied quotation from Paul, 
that God would have all men saved, I 
have, in my judgment, elsewhere suffi- 
cientlv show T n, lends no countenance to 
your error. For it is moie certain than 



PROVIDENCE. 



29 



certainty itself, that Paul is not there- 
speaking of individuals, but refers to or- 
ders and classes of employments. He 
had been enjoining prayers, in behalf of 
kings and other governors, and all who 
exercised the office of magistrate. But 
inasmuch as all who then bore the sword, 
were the professed enemies of the church, 
it miofat seem absurd that the church 
should pray for their salvation. To ob- 
viate the difficulty Paul extends the grace 
of God even to them. 

There is perhaps more colour in the 
words of Peter, that "God is not willing 
that any should perish, but that all should 
come to repentance;" if, however, there 
is any ambiguity in the former clause, it 
is removed by the explanation, which is im- 
mediately subjoined. Certainly in so far as 
God would receive all to repentance, he 
would have no one perish. But in order 
to be received they must come. Now, the 
Spirit every where proclaims, that divine 
grace first comes to men, who till they 
are drawn remain the willing slaves of 
carnal contumacy. If you had the 
smallest judgment remaining, would you 
not perceivenhe wide difference between 



so 



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these two: that*the stonv hearts of men, 
become hearts of flesh, so as to lose all 
self-complacency, and suppliantly entreat 
for pardon ; then, when they are thus 
changed, that pardon is received. God 
declares that both these are the sifts of 
his kindness, the new heart lor repent- 
ance, and the gracious pardon of the 
suppliants. Unless God were ready to 
receive all who truly implore his mercy, 
he would not say, " return unto me, and 
I will return unto you." But if repent- 
ance were the effect of the will of man, 
Paul would not say, " if perad venture 
God may give them lepentance." Nay, 
unless the same God, who with his own 
voice calls all to repentance, drew his 
elect by the secret influences of his Spirit, 
Jeremiah would not say, " Turn me, Oh 
Lord, and I shall be turned ; for when 
thou turnedst me, I repented." 

If any modesty could be looked for in 
a dog, this solution should have been fa- 
miliar to you from my writings, as a 
thing ten times repeated. But even re- 
ject it if you will, you will yet derive no 
more countenance from Paul, than from 
Ezekiel. There is no occasion for anxious 



PRO V IDENC E, 31 

debate, regarding the mode in which God 
would have all men saved ; for these two 
things salvation and the knowledge of 
the truth, are not to be separated. Now 
answer ! If God determined to make 
known his truth to all, why since the 
time that the Gospel began to be pro- 
claimed, are there so many nations that 
his pure truth never reached ? Besides, 
why has he not equally opened the eyes 
of all, when the interior illumination of 
the Spirit, vouchsafed but to few, is ne- 
cessary to faith ? This knot also you 
have to untie. As no one comes to God, 
except he who is drawn by the secret 
influence of his Spirit, why are not all 
indiscriminately drawn, if he is deter- 
mined that all should be saved ? For 
the discrimination demonstrates, that 
there is some secret way, in which he 
excludes many from salvation. 

How it is that the mercy of God reaches 
to the thousandth generation, you will 
never peiceive while you are blinded by 
the pride which puffs you up. For there 
is no promise of such a mei|cy, as was to 
abolish utterly the curse, wjith which the 
whole progeny of Adam was overwhelm- 



32 



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ed ; but the mercy promised, was to 
make its way forever to the unworthy, 
in spite of all the obstacles which might 
oppose. Thus God passed by many sons 
of Abraham when he chose Isaac alone. 
So when Isaac had begotten twins, the 
same God determined that his mercy 
should rest only on Jacob. Yet though 
God gives proof of his anger against 
many, still this remains undeniable, that 
he is inclined to goodness, slow to anger; 
because in the long suffering with which 
he tolerates the reprobate, there is no 
obscure display of his goodness. 

Now observe how 3^our frivolous quib- 
bles entangle yourself while I escape 
with such ease. That the mercy of 
God may exceed his anger, you insist 
that more must be chosen to salvation 
than destruction ; now though I were to 
grant this, yet God will be unjust to those 
few, if your calumnies may be believed. 
If he do not love his offspring you pro- 
nounce him worse than a wolf. If then 
there is but one against whom he exer- 
cises his anger, how will he escape the 
charge of cruelty ? Nor may you object, 
that the causes of anger are in men them- 



PROVIDENCE, 



33 



selves ; because comparing anger with 
mercy, you contend merely concerning 
relative extent ; as if by choosing more to 
salvation, God might prove himself mer- 
ciful. Whereas God commends his love 
toward us in a totally different way, viz. on 
the one hand, by pardoning so many, and 
so various offences, and on the other by 
contending with the obstinate malice of 
men, till it come to its height. 

Article Second. 

God not only predestinated to damnation; 
but he also predestinated Adam to the 
causes of damnation ; whose fall he not 
only foresaw, but determined from eter- 
nity, by a secret decree, and ordained 
that he should fall. And that this might 
come to pass in his time, he set forth the 
apple the cause of the fall. 

Against the Second. 

They say that the second too is a doctrine of the devil, 
and they demand of us, Calvin, to show where it is 
written in the word of God. 

J. Calvin's Reply. 

In the second article you are the same 
man still. Produce the passage from my 
3 



34 



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writings, where I teach that the apple 
was set before Adam to cause his fall. 
This to be sure is one of your popular 
arts, to darken the minds of the simple 
with lies, lest they should rise to the 
truth, which is remote from common 
carnal sense. But lest I should seem to 
dispute about words, I acknowledge that 
I wrote thus ; that the fell of Adam was 
not a matter of chance, but ordained in 
the secret counsel of God. In simply 
denouncing this a doctrine of the devil, 
you must no doubt fancy yourself a judge 
of no mean authority ; otherwise, you 
could not expect to overturn with one 
abusive assertion, a point which I have 
established by powerful arguments. You 
demand a testimony from Scripture, to 
demonstrate, that Adam did not fall, 
without the secret decree of God. 
Whereas, if you had only read a few 
pages with attention, you could not help 
seeing, what is every where obvious, that 
God manages all things according to his 
secret counsel. You fancy a foreknow- 
ledge in God, which sluggishly beholds 
from heaven the life of man : God him- 
self laying his hand on the helm of the 



PROVIDENCE. 



universe, does not allow his. power to be 
separated from his foreknowledge. Cer- 
tainly this reasoning belongs to Augustine, 
not to me. If God foresaw what he was 
unwilling should happen, then he is not 
supreme. Therefore he determined what- 
ever should be, because independently 
of his will, nothing could be. If you 
reckon this absurd, yet you cannot es- 
cape it even with your fancy ; because 
he ought to have at least applied to the 
mischief, the remedy within his own 
power, though it is clear he did not do so. 
God foresaw the fall of Adam. He had 
the power of preventing it. He was not 
willing to prevent it. Why he was un- 
willing no reason can be given, except 
that his will took the opposite direction. 
If you allow yourself to contend with 
God, accuse him too, of fitting man for 
ruin, by the weakness in which he 
created him. You say that Adam fell 
by free will. I reply that to keep him 
from falling, he needed that constancy 
and fortitude^ with which God endows 
his elect, when he determines that they 
shall hold fast their integrity. Sure it is, 
unless new strength is supplied from 



36 



ON SECRET 



heaven every moment, we are frail 
enough to perish a thousand times. God 
supports those whom he has chosen, and 
they persevere with invincible fortitude. 
Why should he not have supplied Adam 
with this, if he willed him to stand un- 
hurt. Surely we must here be silent, or 
confess with Solomon that God made all 
things for himself; even the wicked for 
the day of evil. If the absurdity offend 
you, think that is no vain repetition, which 
declares the judgments of God to be a 
great deep. If the incomprehensible coun- 
sel of God, could be contained in the little 
measure of our capacity, it was in vain 
that Moses proclaimed, that the revelations 
of the Law were for us, and our children, 
while his secret things belonged to himself. 
You demand a quotation proving that 
God did not prevent the fall of Adam, be- 
cause he was unwilling ; as if indeed the 
memorable answer did not sufficiently 
prove it, "I will have mercy on whom I 
will have mercy." Whence Paul infers 
that he hath not mercy on all because he 
doth not choose. And doubtless without 
any commentator at all, the words plain- 
ly tell us, that God is bound by no law. 



PROVIDENCE. 



37 



to show indiscriminate mercy to all : but 
that he is his own Arbiter in pardoning 
whom he pleases, and passing by others. 
Surely it was the same God, of whom the 
prophet asserts " he doeth according to 
his will." Now if you say that he un- 
willingly yielded, when Adam fell, you 
must suppose that Satan was victorious 
in the contest, and like the Manicheans, 
you will have two principles. Paul too 
handling this subject, does not rashly 
compare God to the potter, who was at 
liberty out of the same mass, to make 
whatever variety of vessels he thought 
proper. The Apostle certainly might 
have begun at sin ; though he does not, 
but defends the unconstrained rioht and 

o 

sovereignty of God, in the work itself. 
And when he adds that all had been shut 
up in unbelief, does he teach that this hap- 
pened in spite of God, or rather that God 
was the author of it ? If you object that 
all were condemned for unbelief merely 
because they deserved it, the context is 
against you, because Paul is discoursing 
of the secret judgments of God; and the 
exclamation, " oh the depth," &c, is in- 
consistent with such a supposition. 
3* 



38 



ON SECRET 



Therefore as Christ was predestinated 
from the beginning to succour the lost, so 
God determined in his own incompre- 
hensible counsel, how he was to illustrate 
his own glory, by the fall of Adam. I 
acknowledge, indeed, when he vindicates 
the free course of his mercy, he speaks 
of the human race, as it had already 
perished in Adam ; but the same reason 
was always valid before the fall of Adam, 
that his own will, is to him a sufficient 
ground of mercy, when such is his plea- 
sure. This will, moreover, though it 
depends on nothing else, and has no 
prior cause, is yet founded in the best 
reason, and the highest equity. For 
though the license of man requires the 
bridle of the Law, it is otherwise with 
God, who is a law to himself, and 
whose will is the rule of the most perfect 
righteousness. 



Article Third. 



The sins which are committed, are committed 
not only by tlie permission, but also by the 



PROVIDENCE. 



39 



will of God. For it is fr ivolous to make 
a distinction between the -permission and the 
will of God, so far as sin is concerned. 
Those who do so wish to gain God's fa- 
vour by compliments aud adulation. 

Against the Third. 

Against the third, concerning the difference between 
will and permission, they allege this. Calvin says, that 
he is a prophet of God ; and we say that Calvin is a 
prophet of the devi-l. Now, one of us must be saying 
what is false. For if he is a prophet of God, we lie; 
but if he is a prophet of the devil, he himseifTies, in say- 
ing that he is a prophet of God. But if both these are 
by the w.ll of God ; that is, if God will that Calvin should 
say, he is a prophet of God, aud that we should »tty, he 
is the prophet of the devil, he wills incompatible things ; 
which is impossible. For if God will a lie, he does not 
will truth, or if he will truth he does not will a lie. 
Whence it follows, if he wishes one party to speak truth, 
he is unwilling that the other should lie. But one or 
other of the parties undoubtedly lies, it lies, therefore, 
not by the will, but by the permission of God. There is 
then a difference even in God between permission and 
volition. 

They also bring forward many clear examples, of the 
difference between volition and permission; especially 
from the twentieth chapter of EzekieJ, where God after 
largely upbraiding his people for their unwillingness to 
obey his precepts, at last concludes thus; go ye, serve 
every one his filthy god, since ye obey not me. As if 
he said this, I permit ycu to follow your own lust, since 
ye will not obey my precepts. And this seems to be the 
same, as he had spoken before in the same chapter ; 
" As they rejected my laws, I delivered to them precepts 
not good." Now God did not give the Israelites precepts 



40 



ON SECRET 



that were not good ; for all God's precepts are good. 
But because they rejected God's good precepts, he de- 
serted them ; and they, deserted by God fell into bad 
precepts ; just as the prodigal son, when deserted by his 
father, or rather when his father was deserted, fell into 
wantonness ; and as Paul teaches, because men did not 
love the truth, God sent them a spirit of error to believe 
a lie. 

Such seems to be the import also, of that passage in 
the fourth chapter of Amos, " Go to Bethel and sin, 
since ye love to do it." So now, as men are unwilling to 
obey God, who declares that he does not will sin, God 
has permitted spirits of error to exist, who teach that 
God wills sin; that those who are unwilling to obey the 
truth, may obey a lie. 

They also bring forward the passage from Zechariah, 
where God declares himself angry with the nations that 
were at rest ; because when he was slightly incensed 
against the Israelites, the heathens aggravated the pun- 
ishment; that is, they more grievously vexed the Israel- 
ites, than the anger of God could tolerate; therefore, it 
was by the permission, not by the will of God. 

They adduce a similar instance from the Prophet 
Obadiah, who reproves the Israelites, for afflicting the 
Jews, more grievously than the anger of God demanded. 
They also refer to the example of the prodigal son, 
which I have already touched. If you say that he ran 
his vicious course by the will of his father ; it were most 
absurd ; it was then by his permission. So, the guilty, 
they say, are the prodigal children of God, and sin by 
the permission, not by the will of God. Also that say- 
ing of Christ, " Will ye also go away?" Certainly he 
was unwilling that they should go away, but he permit- 
ted it. Finally they appeal to common sense, which 
dictates a difference between volition and permission ; 
according to which common sense, Christ was accus- 
tomed to teach divine things, and which if you subvert, 
all the parables of Christ must perish, because common 
sense alone can judge of them. 



PROVIDENCE. 



41 



J. Calvirfs Reply. 

The third article no less than the 
others, betrays your extreme fondness, 
for foetid calumnies. If you will attack 
my doctrine, why not at least show can- 
dour enough to quote my own language. 
In our present discussion, I maintain the 
distinction between permission and voli- 
tion to be frivolous. You oppose w r hat 
you fancy a witty subtlety, but what is 
really a silly sophism, viz. : If God wills 
all things, he wills incompatible things, 
inasmuch as you call me a prophet of the 
devil, while I affirm myself to be a faithful 
servant of God. This apparent inconsist- 
ency, indeed, dazzles your eyes ; but truly, 
God himself, who knows well how at once 
to will, and not to will the same thing, is not 
concerned about your dimness of sight. 
Whenever God raised up true prophets, he 
certainly willed, that they should actively 
and strenuously contend, in maintaining 
the doctrine of his law ; false prophets 
arose who laboured to subvert that doc- 
trine : there must be a conflict betwixt 
them ; but God did not conflict with 
himself when he raised up both. You 



42 



ON SECRET 



here thrust the divine toleration in my 
face ; while he openly proclaims (Deut. 
xiii. 1,) that no false prophets arise, 
whom he does not ordain, either to try 
the faith of his own, or to blind the unbe- 
lieving. "If a false prophet shall arise 
among you," says Moses, "your God tries 
you." You, by a most impertinent com- 
mentary, transfer to a totally different 
quarter, what Moses ascribes, not rashly 
to God. Either deny that it is the pre- 
rogative of God to examine the hearts of 
his people, or yield at length to the clear 
and indubitable truth, that false prophets, 
are God's instruments in that examina- 
tion of which he chooses to be recognised 
as the -author. 

Ezekiel(xiv. 9,) is still clearer; " if a 
deceived prophet has brought forth any- 
thing, I, God have deceived that prophet, 
and my hand is upon him." You enjoin 
us to be content with mere permission. 
God declares his own will and hand to 
be at work. Now mark, which witness 
is better entitled to belief : God speak- 
ing of himself by his Spirit, the only foun- 
tain of wisdom, or you prating of his 
unknown mysteries, according to your 



PROVIDENCE. 43 

carnal silly apprehension. What ? When 
God calls Satan as the executioner of his 
vengeance, and openly commissions him 
to deceive, does this differ in no respect 
from a simple permission ? The voice 
of God (1 Kings xxii. 20, 21,) is distinct 
enough ; "who for us will deceive Ahab ?" 
And there is no obscurity in the com- 
mand given to Satan ; " Go and be a ly- 
ing spirit in the mouth of all his pro- 
phets." 

I would also know whether doing and 
permitting are the same thing. Because 
David had secretly abused his neigh- 
bour's wife, God (2 Sam. xii. 11,) de- 
clares, that he will bring it about, that 
his wives shall be dragged to similar in- 
famy, in the sight of the sun. He does 
not say I will allow it to be done, but I 
will do it. You, to aid him with your 
hollow help, plead permission as an 
apology. David himself was of a very 
different mind, who, reflecting on the 
dreadful judgment of God, exclaims, " I 
am dumb because thou didst it." So 
also, when Job blesses God, he does not 
merely acknowledge that by the divine 
permission, he had beea spoiled by the 



44 



ON SECRET 



robbers, but distinctly affirms that God 
had taken away what he had given. 

If the same rule hold in giving and 
receiving, then by your authority, wealth 
cannot be a gift of God ; but must flow 
to us casually by the divine permission. 
Now, though you, with your corrupt 
crew, cease not to rail, yet God will jus- 
tify himself. But we will reverently 
adore mysteries, which far transcend our 
comprehension, till a full knowledge of 
them shine forth, when, face to face, we 
shall behold Him who now can be dis- 
cerned only as in a glass. Then, says 
Augustine, shall be seen in the clearest 
light of wisdom, what the faith of the 
pious holds, how certain, and immutable, 
and most efficacious is the will of God, 
how many things it could do, but chooses 
not, while it chooses nothing, to which it 
is unequal. But from the lips of the 
same pious writer, I answer you on the 
point in hand. " These are the great 
works of the Lord, immaculate in respect 
of all his volitions, and so wisely im- 
maculate, that when the angelic and hu- 
man creature had sinned, that is, had 
done not what he, but what itself willed. 



PROVIDENCE, 



45 



even by that same volition of the crea- 
ture, bv which what the Creator did not 
will was done, God accomplished his 
own design : wisely employing like one 
supremely good, even evil, for the dam- 
nation of those, whom he justly predesti- 
nated to punishment, and for their salva- 
tion whom he benignly predestinated to 
pardon. For, in so far as they were con- 
cerned, they did what God did not will; 
but in reference to the Omnipotence of 
God, it was impossible they could do 
this ; inasmuch, as by this very acting 
against God's will, his will concerning 
themselves, was perfoimed. Therefoie, 
the great works of the Lord, are imma- 
culate in respect of all his volitions, so 
that in a wonderful and ineffable way, 
even that which is against his will, does 
not happen without his will ; because it 
would not happen if he did not allow it ; 
nor does he allow it unwillingly, but 
willingly. Nor, as good, could he allow 
evil to be done, unless as Omnipotent he 
could bring good out of it." 

As to the Scripture examples which 
you adduce, they are just as much to the 
purpose, as mixing wine with oil. God, 
4 



46 



ON SECRET 



by Ezekiel, . addressing the disobedient 
Jews, says ; " Go ye, serve every man 
idols." I acknowledge^ indeed, that this 
is not a word of command, but of rejec- 
tion of the impious mixture by which 
the Jews adulterated his legitimate wor- 
ship. But what more will you infer from 
this, except that God sometimes permits 
what he reprobates and condemns ; as 
if, forsooth, it were not universally agreed, 
that in such forms of expression, God 
sometimes commands, and sometimes 
permits. He says, in the law, six shalt 
thou work ; it is a concession ; for, con- 
secrating to himself the seventh day, he 
left men free on the other six. In another 
way too he anciently allowed divorce to 
the Jews, w T hich he by no means ap- 
proved. Here he indignantly devotes 
the hypocritical and perfidious to idols ; 
because he would not have his name 
profaned. But how comes it that j^ou 
forget, that the point in debate is the 
secret Providence of God, by which he 
destines and turns all the agitations of 
the world, to his own purpose according 
to his pleasure ? 

Moreover, by corrupting another pas- 



PROVIDENCE, 47 

sage, so unskilfully and so perversely, you 
show that nothing is sacred to an impious 
and profane man. God's words are ; 
" because they were unwilling to obey 
my precepts, I gave them precepts not 
good." Here you trifle by telling us, 
that when they were deserted by God, 
they fell into idolatry. Whereas, there 
is no doubt God means the Jews were 
bound in servitude by the Chaldeans, 
who compelled them to obey their 
tyrannical laws. Now the question is, 
whether God merely permitted the Jews 
to be haled by the Chaldeans into exile ; 
or whether he employed them as his 
chosen instruments for chastising the 
sins of his people. Indeed, if you still 
seek a pretext, in the permission of God, 
all the prophets must be consigned to the 
flames, who declare at one time, that 
Satan is sent by God to deceive ; at 
another that the Chaldeans, or Assyrians 
are sent to ravage. Again they tell us 
that the same God hissed for the Egyp- 
tians, when about to employ their agency ; 
that the Assyrians were his mercenaries ; 
that Nebuchadnezzar was his servant in 
spoiling Egypt ; and that the Assyrians 



48 



ON SECRET 



were the axe in his hand, and the rod of 
his anger, in the destruction of Judea. 
Lest I should be tedious, I omit innu- 
merable other instances. 

You are guilty of not less drunken 
audacity, when you pretend that God 
sends a spirit of error to the unbelieving 
that they should believe a lie, merely, 
inasmuch, as he allows false teachers to 
exist. When you prate in this way, do 
you suppose that your readers are so 
blind as not to see, a totally different 
meaning in Paul's words, " God sent 
strong delusion ?" But it is not wonder- 
fulthathe should babble thus licentiously, 
who either supposes there are no divine 
judgments at all, or securely despises 
the very meaning of the word judgment. 
For no one of sound intellect will say, 
that a judge does nothing when he inflicts 
punishment, or that he inefficiently leaves 
to others, what is peculiar to his own 
office. 

But it is in vain that }^ou strive to 
alarm, and harass me, with your barking. 
You allege there are by the permission 
of God, enoneous spirits teaching that 
God wills sin. As the very same re- 



PROVIDENCE. 



49 



proach was cast on Paul, by men of your 
stamp, there is no reason why I should 
take it amiss, to be associated with him. 
You quote from Zechariah, that God was 
incensed against those nations, that vexed 
the Israelites more cruelly, than his dis- 
pleasure would tolerate. Are you then 
so absurd, as to suppose there was not 
strength enough in God, to prohibit these 
injuries, if it was his pleasure that his 
people should be chastised more mildly? 
You will object, that such is the sound of 
the words. But you are thrice, yea four 
times stupid, if you do not perceive, 
that, in one way, God wonderfully tries 
the patience of his own, by a severe 
ordeal ; and meanwhile, in another, is 
displeased with the insolence of the 
enemy, when he beholds him extrava- 
gantly exulting in victory, and rushing 
into barbarity. Besides nothing is more 
evident, than that your follies, if let 
alone, mutually destroy each other. For 
God either commanded, or permitted, 
those profane nations, gently to chastise 
the Jews. If you answer there was a 
command, I maintain, however cause- 
lessly troublesome, those neighbours may 
4* 



50 



ON SECRET 



have been to God's unhappy exiles, yet 
they would have been free from blame, 
provided they had kept due bounds. For 
who would make a fault of their obedi- 
ence to God ? Yet you make a distinction 
between permission and command, inas- 
much as when God had ordered them to 
inflict light punishment on his people, they 
by his permission exceeded their limits. 
On this principle, the Israelites were 
worthy of reproof, because they afflicted 
their brethren more greviousfy, than the 
divine anger allowed. Now your ab- 
surdity is too blind, in imagining they 
would have been free from blame, if 
they had only kept the due mean. 
For I will always drag you back to this 
point, that the Israelites were not merely 
guilty by divine permission (as you fancy,) 
of excessive haishness, but also of un- 
justly taking up arms against their 
brethren. You scruple not to assert, 
that there was nothing wrong in under- 
taking the war, because God was angry 
at the Jews, and armed the Israelites, 
to execute his commanded vengeance. 
But I maintain they sinned twice, be- 
cause in the first place, they had no in- 



PROVIDENCE. 



51 



tention of obeying God, however they 
were the instruments of his vengeance ; 
and then, the very atrocity they display- 
ed, showed that righteousness was not in 
all their thoughts. 

Besides, in your principle itself, you 
display shameful ignorance in fancying 
that men slip and err, by God's permis- 
sion, in so far as they are concerned. 
For it is an impious and saciiligious fig- 
ment, that God permits any evil to men, 
in respect of them, since it is evident he 
severely prohibits, and forbids whatever 
is contrary to his commands. But why 
he chooses to allow men to err, nay 
dooms those to error in his secret decree, 
whom he commands to hold the straight 
course, — of this it is the part of sober mo- 
desty to be ignorant ; while it belongs to 
mad temerity to cavil about it as you do. 

As to Christ's permission to his dis- 
ciples to depart, you may infer how skil- 
fully you interpret the passage, from the 
fact, that he exhorts them to persever- 
ance, by setting before them the defec- 
tion of others. For when he mournfully 
asks them, (John vi. 67,) " will ye also 
go away ?" he, as it were, puts a bridle 



52 ON SECRET 

on them to prevent them wandering with 
apostates. Does this way of speaking 
seem to you a permission ? I acknow- 
ledge, indeed, that common sense dic- 
tates a difference between ordering and 
permitting, but on this point we have no 
discussion. The question is, whether 
God inactively beholds what is done on 
earth ; or whether he governs with su- 
preme sway all the actions of men. 

Or, if the word permission pleases you 
so much, answer, is the permission will- 
ing or unwilling ? This last supposition 
is overthrown by what we read in the 
psalm, that God does whatever he pleases. 
But if it be a willing permission, then 
you cannot, without impiety, fancy him 
inactive. Whence it follows, he regulates 
by his counsel, what he chooses shall 
come to pass. 

Now it is too silly in you, to think of 
subjecting so sublime a mystery of God, 
to the rule of common sense. For, as to 
your objection, that Christ accommo- 
dated all his instructions on divine things, 
to common sense, he himself expressly 
denies it and convicts you both of lying, 
and impudence. Do you not hear how 



PROVIDENCE. 



53 



he declares, that he spake in parables, 
that men in general by hearing, might 
not hear ? It is true, indeed, that the 
Holy Spirit, always as it were^stammers, 
like a nurse, for our sakes ; but common 
sense is still very far from being a fit 
judge of that doctrine, which transcends 
the capacity of angels. Paul exclaims, 
that the natural man perceiveth not the 
things of God. Therefore, he enjoins all 
who w^ould advance in the celestial 
school, to become fools, and to be empti- 
ed of their own sense. In fine, God 
everywhere claims for himself the light 
of intelligence ; and time and paper 
would fail, were I to gather the proofs, 
which so convict common sense of blind- 
ness, that whoever would learn of God, 
must renounce his own wisdom, and 
seek light from heaven. Therefore, one 
example is sufficient. Paul calls it a 
mystery hid from ages, yea concealed 
from the celestial angels themselves, 
that God would not have evangelical 
doctrine, promulgated to the Gentiles, 
till the coming of Christ. You thrust 
forward common sense, to subvert this 
doctrine at its pleasure, as you allow 



54 



ON SECRET 



nothing to be susceptible of proof, of 
which it is not the judge, and the arbiter. 
The prophet, speaking of the Providence 
of God, exclaims, how magnificent are 
thy works, oh Jehovah, thy thoughts are 
very deep. You deny anything to be 
divine, which vou cannot measure with 
your own reason. What then is the 
meaning of Paul, when speaking on this 
subject, he says, " Oh man, who art 
thou?" Again, " oh the height and the 
depth !" He enjoins wonder and aston- 
ishment ; because all our penetration 
fails us, when brought to the incompre- 
hensible counsel of God. But you will 
admit nothing, that is not subjected to 
your eyes. 



Article Fourth. 

That all the crimes, which any man commits, 
are the good and just works of God, 

Against the Fourth. 

Against the fourth, they loudly urge that passage in 
Isaiah, " Woe to them who call good evil, and evil good." 
If sin is a good and just work of God, it follows, that justice 



t 

PROVIDENCE. 



55 



is an evil, and unjust work of God ; for justice is entirely 
contrary to sin. If sin is just, it follows that injustice is 
just ; for sin is injustice. If sin is a work of God, it fol- 
lows that God commits sin ; and if he commits sin, he 
is the servant of sin, according to the doctrine of Christ. 
If sin is a work of God, and Christ came to abolish sin, 
he came to abolish a work of God. But if Christ came 
to abolish the works of the Devil, as Peter testifies, what 
are the works of the Devil ? Ifsin is a just work of God, 
God hates and punishes his own just work ; therefore 
he is unjust. 

But if it is objected to them, that sin is not sin in God 7 
it is demanded, in whom then is it sin? Or why does 
God himself hate it ? Or why is sin called sin, unless it 
is because it is against the law, not ot men, but of God? 
If sin is the work of God, God commits sin, and if God 
commits sin, he sins; as he who doeth righteousness, is 
righteous. But if God sins, why does he forbid others 
to sin. Why does he not rather command men to sin, 
that they may be his own imitators? For children 
should follow their parent. " Be ye holy," says he, 
u for I am holy." Therefore by the same rule it will be 
said, " Commit ye sin, fori commit sin." 

J. Calvin' 's Reply. 

In the fourth article you add to your 
forgeries ; of which fact, I would have 
readers warned, only on this account, that 
they may judge of the matter by its own 
merits, instead of by youi foetid calum- 
nies. Not that I shrink from your objec- 
tion; I merely complain, that my 
language is changed, for the malignant 
purpose of distorting my doctrine, into 



56 



ON SECliET 



something odious. You contend with 
me just as if I had said, that sin is a just 
work of God ; a sentiment uniformly 
held up to detestation, in all my writings. 
Therefore, just in proportion as your 
puerility seems subtle to yourself, is it in 
reality ridiculous. You infer that justice 
is evil, injustice good, that God is the 
servant of sin, and unjustly punishes 
what he does himself; all which are 
monsters fabricated in your own brain, 
and diligently refuted by me, as my 
books testify. But you shall by-and- 
bye feel, how detestable is the crime, to 
trifle in your railing way with the hidden 
mysteries of God. Now that you may 
know you have no business or controversy 
with me, but with that celestial Judge, 
whose tribunal you shall not escape ; 
Job, by no other surely than the Spirit's 
impulse, declares that to have been the 
work of God, which was done both by 
Satan and by robbers ; and yet he does 
not tax God with sin but blesses his holy 
name. It is certain that the selling of in- 
nocent Joseph by his brethren, was an 
atrocious crime ; yet Joseph ascribing 
the same work to God, contemplates his 



PROVIDENCE, 



57 



immense goodness, in thereby giving 
food to his father's family, When Isaiah 
calls the Assyrians the rod in the hand 
of God, he makes God the author of the 
horrible carnage, which through him was 
to be effected ; but without casting the 
smallest stain on God. Jeremiah cursing 
those who did the wot k of God negligent- 
ly, means by the work of God, whatsoever 
cruelty an impious adversary inflicted on 
the Jews. Now expostulate with him, 
as if he said that God sinned. In fine, 
all who ar5 acquainted with the Scrip- 
tures, are aware that such testimonies 
might be multiplied so as to form a 
volume. But what need is there of woi ds, 
when the thing is clear of itself. Was 
it not an illustrious display of the grace 
of God, that he did not spare his Son ? 
Of Christ too that he gave himself up ? 
Here you, with impure and sacrilegious 
mouth, affirm that God sinned, if the 
sacrifice of his Only Begotten Son was 
his work. But every pious man along 
with Augustine, has no difficulty in unty- 
ing this knot. When the Father deliver- 
ed up the Son, and the Lord his own 
body, and Judas his Lord, why in this 
5 



58 



ON SECRET 



surrender (48 Ep. to Tin.) is God just 
and man guilty ? If not because in the one 
thing which they did, the causes were dif- 
ferent, on account of which they did it* 
Therefore, Peter does not scruple openly 
to assert (Acts iv. 28,) that Pilate, Judas, 
and the rest of the wicked, did what the 
counsel and hand of God had decreed ; as 
a little before he had declared (Acts ii. 28,) 
that Christ was delivered by the deter- 
minate counsel and foreknowledge of 
God. If you quibble about the word 
foreknowledge, you are abundantly re- 
fated by the " determinate counsel 
and the former passage leaves not the 
shadow of doubt, when it declares that 
Pilate and the wicked did, what the 
counsel and the hand of God, had decreed 
to be done. If you do not comprehend 
so great a secret, wonder with the apos- 
tle, and exclaim, oh the height ! but do 
not madly insult. If you would be 
teachable, a fuller explanation were 
ready for you, in my other writings ; it 
is now sufficient to beat down your inso- 
lence, lest weak minds should be shaken. 



PROVIDENCE. 



59 



Article Fifth. 

That no adultery, theft, or homicide is com- 
mitted, without the will of God being con- 
cerned. Ins. Cap. 14. Distin. 44. 

Article Sixth. 

The Scripture openly testifies, that crimes 
are appointed not merely by the will, but 
by the authority of God. 

Against the Fifth and Sixth. 

Against the fifth and the sixth your adversaries say 
many things, and these especially. If God wills sin, and 
is the author of sin, God himself is to be punished. For 
sin should be visited altogether on its author. If God 
wills sin, the Devil does not will sin ; for the Devil is in 
all things contrary to God. If God wills sin, he loves 
sin; and if he loves sin he hates righteousness. If God 
wills sin, he is worse than many men, for many men are 
unwilling to sin. Nay, the nearer any one approaches 
the nature of God, the less he wills sin. Why then does 
Paul say, the good I would I do not; but the evil I 
would not, that I do? Why does not Paul will, what 
God wills / Or why does Paul will what God does not 
will ? Lastly, they demand what Scripture testifies that 
crimes are appointed not merely by the will but by the 
authority of God ? 

J. Calvin's Reply. 

It was owing to that very divine pro- 
vidence which you oppose, that you hap- 



60 



ON SECRET 



pened to mark the passage in the fifth 
article. Readers will perceive, that [ 
am there reciting in the person of my ad- 
versaries, the objections which are ordi- 
narily brought against my doctrine. Yon 
snatch at that mutilated passage ; and do 
you not deserve that every one should 
spit in your face ? In the sixth article, 
though you do not specify the place, your 
impudence makes a still wider bound, 
that I, who, as often as sin is mentioned, 
uniformly give the most solemn warnings, 
that the name of God must be kept wide 
apart, that I should anywhere have said, 
that crimes are perpetrated not only by 
the will, but by the authority of God. 
Certainly I shall willingly suffer any- 
thing to be said against a blasphemy so 
prodigious, only let not my name be so 
unrighteously coupled with it. How far 
you succeed in deceiving fools, I know 
not ; but I have no fear, should any one 
choose to compare your figments with my 
writings, but your dishonesty will render 
you execrable as you deserve to be. You 
contend if God loves sin,hehatesrighteous- 
ness, and you bring forward many things 
of the same import. For what purpose ? 



PROV IDENCE. 



61 



If not to subscribe my language. For it 
is not yesterday for the first time, nor the 
day before, but many j^ears since, I have 
distinctly used this language, (book on 
Eternal Predestination,) " If in tne spoil- 
ing of Job, there was a work common to 
God, to Satan, and to robbers, how shall 
God be exempted from whatever blame 
belongs to Satan and his instruments ? 
Beyond all question human actions are 
distinguished by their object and design, 
so that his cruelty is condemned, who 
digs out crows' eyes, or kills the stork, 
while the merit of the Judge is praised, 
who sanctifies his hands by the slaught- 
er of the wicked. And why shall the 
condition of God be worse, so that his 
justice may not separate him from the 
crimes of men?" Let readers only run 
over what I there subjoin, nay, let them 
peruse the whole passage in that treatise, 
where I dispute about the Providence of 
God, and they will easily perceive, how 
all your mists are there sufficiently, and 
more than sufficiently dispelled. Let 
them add, if they please, what I have 
written on the second chapter of Acts. 
When men commit theft or homicide, 

a* 



62 



ON SECRET 



they therefore sin, because they are 
thieves and homicides. Now in theft 
and homicide, there is a wicked design. 
God who employs their wickedness, is to 
be placed in a higher position, for he has 
an entirely different object, inasmuch as 
he intends to chastise one, and exercise 
the patience of another ; and thus he 
never swerves from his nature, that is, 
from perfect rectitude. Wickedness being 
always estimated from the design con- 
templated, it is evident that God is not 
the author of sin. 

The sum of the whole matter is this ; 
since the cause of sin is an evil will in 
men, when God executes his righteous 
judgments by their hands, he is so far 
from being involved in blame, that he 
brings forth the light of his glory out of 
darkness. In that tract too, which roused 
these furies from deep hell against me, 
the following clear distinction frequently 
occurs, that nothing is more iniquitous, 
or more preposterous, than to draw God 
into fellowship in guilt, when he executes 
his judgments by the hands of the Devil 
and the wicked ; since there is no affini- 
ty in their ways of acting. 



PROVIDENCE. 



63 



Besides I have published a work twelve 
years since, which more than sufficiently 
vindicates me from your putid calum- 
nies ; and should have protected me from 
all annoyance, if in you and those like 
you, there were one drop of humanity ; 
for I boast not how skilfully I have re- 
futed that phrenzy, by which the liber- 
tines (those monsters) had fascinated 
many. It is certain I professedly un- 
dertook the management of that cause, 
and have luminously demonstrated that 
God is not the author of sin. 



Article Seventh. 

What men do in sinning they do by the will 
of God, since very often the will of God is 
inconsistent with the precept. 

Against the Seventh. 

On the seventh they ask. if the will of God is often 
inconsistent with the precept, how is it possible to know 
when he wills, and when he does not will what he enjoins. 
For if Calvin say we must always do what God com- 
mands, whether he will it or not, it follows that God 
would sometimes have his will resisted. For if he com- 
mands me not to commit adultery and yet wills that I 



64 



ON SECRET 



shall commit adultery, and yet I ought not to do so, I 
ought, in that ease, to act contrary to his will. JNow, 
then, when he gives this universal command to the 
Israelites, " Do not commit adultery," whether does he 
will that all should obey him, or that some should, and 
others not? Here your adversaries demand some dis- 
tinct reply, Calvin. If yon say, that he chooses a part 
should commit the sin, and a part not, God will be in- 
consistent with himself in the same precept. 

They also allege that God is a hypocrite, if he enjoins 
one thing, and wills another; that he has honey in his 
mouth, and gall in his heart. If it is objected to them 
that God has two wills contrary to each other, the one 
open, that is to say in his precepts ; the other hid ; they 
ask who opened that hidden will to Calvin? For if 
Calvin and his party know it, it is not hidden; if they 
are ignorant of it, why do they make assertions about a 
thirg unknown? 

They also maintain that two contraries cannot exist 
together, at the same time, in one subject. But to will 
at once the same thing, and not to will it, are contraries. 
Besides, if God have two wills inconsistent with each 
other, it is credible that Calvin (an imitator of God, of 
course.) has two wills, and that he says one thing, and 
thinks another. Therefore we are unwilling to believe 
Calvin, as a man double-tongued, double-hearted, and 
double-willed. 

Again, if God, when he commands justice, wills in- 
justice, it follows, that the Devil ordering injustice, may 
will justice. And if God, in saying one thing, and will- 
ing another, does not sin, it follows, if any one imitate 
him in this he does not sin: for to imitate God is cer- 
tainly not wrong. Therefore it will be lawful to exhort 
men in this way; — lie, say one thing, and carry another 
in your breasts, that ye may be like your Father, who 
says one thing, and wills another. 

They also ask, with which will God speaks, when he 
commands us to pray, "Thy will be 'done;" and " who- 
soever doeth the will of my Father, who is in heaven, 



PROVIDENCE. 



65 



the same is my brother, and my sister, and my mother." 
So Paul, " Thou art called a Jew, and resiest in the 
law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest his will, 
and dost approve things that are excellent, and hast 
learned the law," &c. &c. Certainly here the will of 
God is what the law commands, and if that will is good, 
whatever will is contrary must be evil. For whatever 
is contrary to good is evil. So in regard to the declara- 
tion of Christ, " how often would I have gathered thy 
children together, and ye would not;" Christ certainly 
speaks of his open will, which had been expressed in so 
many ways. Now if he had another will contrary to 
that, his whole life was mere hypocrisy, which is horrible 
even to think of. 

In fine, they say, if God enjoins what he does not 
will, there are not too wills, but a lie ; for whoever says 
he wills what he does not will, lies; and to command 
merely in words is to lie, and not to will. 

J, Calvin' } s Reply. 

To answer the seventh is no concern 
of mine. Produce the passage, where I 
affirm that the will of God is very often 
contiary to the precept; for such a 
thing never came into my mind, even in 
a dream. But on the contrary I have 
faithfully expounded, amongst other 
things, how the will of God is simple and 
one, though between his secret counsel 
and his doctrine, some seeming discrepan- 
cy may appear. Whoever shall modestly 
and soberly submit to the omnipotent 
God, will easily understand, so far as the 



66 



ON SECRET 



scanty measure of man's intelligence 
may reach, how God, who forbids whore- 
dom, and punished the adultery of David 
by the incest of Absalom, always wills 
one and the same thing, though in differ- 
ent ways. Therefore, lest the filth of 
your lies should cast the smallest stain 
on me, this may be briefly testified to the 
reader, that your allegations about me 
holding two contrary wills in God, are 
most wicked fictions of your own ; since 
I everywhere teach, that the most perfect 
harmony subsists between God's hidden 
counsel, and the outward word of his 
doctrine. I grant that Augustine men- 
tions different wills ; but these so harmo- 
nious with each other, that the last day 
will demonstrate how consistent he was 
in all his complicated modes of action. 

This being settled, now fight with your- 
self to your heart's content " about God 
forbidding what he wishes to be done, or 
enjoining what he does not wish, and thus 
commanding his will to be resisted." In all 
this filth I recognise nothing belonging to 
me. On the contrary this is the sum of 
my doctrine. The will of God, which is 
expressed in the Law, clearly proves that 



PROVIDENCE, 



67 



rectitude is approved by him, and iniqui- 
ty detested. And beyond all doubt, he 
would not denounce punishment against 
evil-doers, if they pleased him. Still 
what he is not willing should be done, 
and forbids any one to do, he may, never- 
theless, in his own ineffable counsel, de- 
termine shall be done for a different end. 
If you here retort on me, that God is in- 
consistent with himself, I shall ask in re- 
turn, does it become you to prescribe the 
law to him of never transcending the 
range of your judgment ? Moses pro- 
claims that God has his own secrets ; 
while the Law reveals what it is useful 
for man to know. Will you suppose that 
nothing is lawful for God, that is not per- 
fectly plain to you ? In the book of Job 
after the depth of his counsel is cele- 
brated, which swallows up all human 
comprehension, this clause is at length 
added, " Lo ! these are the extremities 
of his ways, and how little is heard of 
him I" You w r ill allow no counsel to God, 
that is not brought under your eye. Now 
you are either more than blind, or you 
see that when God in his word foibids 
you adultery, he is unwilling you should 



68 



Oft SECRET 



be an adulterer ; and that yet in the 
adulteries which he condemns, he exer- 
cises his just judgments ; which undoubt- 
edly he could not do, unless both his 
knowledge and his will were concerned. 
If you would have the thing stated more 
briefly ; — he does will that adultery 
should not be committed, in so far as it 
is pollution, — a violation of sacred order, 
— in fine a transgression of the law ; in 
so far as he employs adulteries, and 
other enormities in the execution of his 
vengeance, he certainly does not unwill- 
ingly discharge the duty of a judge. For 
though we will not praise the Chaldeans- 
and Assyrians for cruelly wading through 
scenes of horrid slaughter ; yea though 
God himself declares, that he would be 
avenged on them ; yet again he else- 
where informs us, that sacrifices were in 
this way prepared for him. Will you 
deny that God's will is concerned in that 
which he dignifies with the honourable 
name of sacrifice. (Is. xxix. and xxxiv. 
cap. ; Jer. xlvi. ; Ezek. xxxix.) 

At length then awake, and acknow- 
ledge that when men are driven headlong 
by depraved appetite, God in secret and 



PROVIDENCE. 



69 



ineffable ways manages his own judg- 
ments. You think the quibble subtle, 
■when you ask ; in prohibiting adultery, 
does God will that all should commit it, 
or only a part ? For if I answer a part, 
you infer that God is inconsistent with 
himself. Now you have a definite 
answer, that God demands chastity of 
all, because he loves it in all ; yet expe- 
rience itself, though I were silent, shows 
different ways of willing. For if his will 
w r ere equally efficacious that all should 
be chaste, he would without doubt render 
all chaste. Now r as chastity is his pecu- 
liar gift, it is easy to infer that he wills 
differently what he enjoins in the word, 
from what he realises by the Spirit of 
regeneration. Nor on this principle, is 
theie any reason that your shameless 
tongue should upbraid God with hypoc- 
risy ; as if he had honey in his mouth, 
and gall in his heart. For God pretends 
nothing either in commanding or forbid- 
ding ; but sincerely reveals his nature. 
And in that secret counsel by which he 
guides all the actions of men, you will 
find nothing contrary to his justice. 
Whoredom displeases God the author of 
6 



70 



ON SECRET 



chastity ; yet the same God determined 
to punish David by the incestuous out- 
rages of Absalom. Human blood he 
forbids to be shed, because as he follows 
his image with his love, so he guards it 
with his protection ; and yet oat of 
impious nations, he raised up executioners 
of the sons of Eli, because he determined 
to slay them. Such is the express doc- 
trine of the sacred history. If your 
blindness is a hindrance to you, yet all 
who have eyes perceive, that it is quite 
consistent for God to abhor whoredom 
and slaughter, in so far as they are sins, 
or (what comes to the same thing,) to 
abhor the transgression of his law in 
whoredom and slaughter, and yet to 
execute his own judgments, in taking 
just vengeance on the sins of men, by 
means of slaughter, and wickedness of 
every kind. 

However dexterous you may fancy 
your query if there is any secret will of 
God, how did I happen to find it out ; I 
shall have no difficulty in answering it, 
provided I may be allowed to follow the 
Holy Spirit as my master. For if Paul 
testifies that God dwells in light inacces- 



PROVIDENCE. 



7 1 



sible ; if the same apostle with good 
reason exclaims that his ways are incom- 
prehensible, why may I not be allowed 
to admire his secret will though it be con- 
cealed from us ? The wisdom of God is 
extolled in the book of Job, with numerous 
and splendid eulogiums, that mortals 
may learn not to measure that wisdom by 
their own apprehensions. Will you then 
ridicule all discourse about what is con- 
cealed ? Or will you upbraid David with 
speaking foolishly of the judgments of 
God, when he acknowledges them to be 
a great deep ? From all the prophets 
and apostles, I learn that the divine 
counsel is incomprehensible. I embrace 
w T hat they declare with no hesitating 
failh. Why should this modesty be im- 
puted to me as a fault ? And think not 
to escape by saying, that I refer to ex- 
amples that are not applicable ; for surely 
I have the very same subject in hand as 
Paul had, when he exclaims concerning 
the depth of the riches of wisdom — the 
incomprehensible judgments, the un- 
searchable ways of God, in secret elec- 
tion or reprobation ; — and yet ceases not 
openly to assert, that God follows whom 



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he pleases with mercy, and dooms the 
rest to destruction. 

In fine, give up all fondness for your 
puerile dilemna, for the Scriptures assure 
me of the secret will of God ; asserting 
what I have learned from them I do 
speak of an ascertained truth ; but be- 
cause I do not reach so great a height, I 
reverently adore with fear and trembling 
what is too sublime for the angels them- 
selves. Often therefore in my writings I 
admonish my readers, thai on this sub- 
ject nothing is better than a learned 
ignorance ; for those rave like madmen 
who arrogate to know more about it than 
is fit. 

You now perceive how confident I am 
about that will of God, of which the 
Scriptures are the witnesses ; still it is 
secret, inasmuch as, ivhy God wills this 
to come to pass, or that ; and how he 
wills it, e ven the intellects of angels can- 
not comprehend ; while your pride so far 
infatuates you and your fellows, as to 
tempt you to annihilate whatever eludes 
01 transcends your capacity. 

Your objections about contrarieties are 
now sufficiently removed. You attack 



PROVIDENCE. 



73 



me indeed with this scurrility ; if I am 
an imitator of God, you deny that any 
faith is due to a double-tongued, a double- 
hearted, and a double-willed man ; but 
it is too foolish to annoy me. By-and- 
bye yon shall know what it is to imitate 
the Devil, by ascending on high to become 
like the Highest. That which alone tor- 
tures me, is the insane blasphemies 
wherewith you defile the sacred majesty 
of God, of which, however, he will him- 
self be the avenger. 

As the will of God, which he has de- 
livered in his law, is good, I grant that 
whatever is contrary to it is evil : but 
when you babble about the contrariety of 
that hidden will, by which God distin- 
guishes between the vessels of mercy 
and the vessels of wrath, and freely 
uses both according to his pleasure, you 
exhale a vanity as detestable as it is 
false, from the foetid ditch of your igno- 
rance. T confess Christ speaks of his 
open will, when he says, " Jerusalem, 
Jerusalem, how often would I have 
gathered thy children together, but ye 
would not he casts the same reproach 
on the Jews, as Moses did in his song, 
6* 



74 



ON SECRET 



And indeed we know that God actually 
performed what these words imply ; 
since the doctrine of the law, the exer- 
cises of piety, and the various benefits 
by which God bound that people to him- 
self, were nothing else than the spreading 
of his wings for their protection ; had not 
their own unsubdued wildness hurried 
them elsewhere. When therefore Christ 
had tried so frequently, and in so many 
ways, to recall by his prophets, that 
perverse nation to obedience, he reasona- 
bly complains of their ingratitude. For 
in restricting your remark to the life of 
Christ, you display your ordinary want 
of skill, as if he were not the true God, 
who from the beginning had not ceased 
to spread over them the wings of his 
favour. Then, you infer that if he had 
another will, contrary to his expressed 
will, his whole life must have been a 
scene of hypocrisy ; as if, forsooth, it 
were inconsistent to allure by invitation 
and benefits, and to withhold from the 
heart, the secret impulse of his Spirit. 

That the futility of this calumny may 
be more manifest, when he complains 
that he had been disappointed, inasmuch 



P R V I D ENCE. 



75 



as the vine which he had expected to 
bring forth sweet fruit, had produced 
sour ; what is your opinion about this, 
my worthy turner of sentences ? Will 
you impute ignorance to him, to salve his 
reputation for veracity ? The Jews 
disappointed God ; therefore according 
to you, while sitting doubtful what would 
turn out, the event deceived him ; as if 
truly a style of speaking, referring merely 
to the result itself, could be violently 
applied to the secret foreknowledge of 
God. 

He says elsewhere, " you will surely 
fear me and they hastened to corrupt 
their ways. God promises himself some 
fruit from the punishments inflicted ; he 
afterwards complains that he had been 
deceived. Can you disentangle yourself 
from this passage likewise, only by sup- 
posing that God is bound by, and depend- 
ant on, the free will of man ? As if it were 
not sufficiently clear, that for the purpose 
of enhancing their crime, he assumes the 
character of man, who says that his 
labour is lost, when the result does not 
correspond. Undoubtedly, those whom 
God determines efficaciously to gather to 



7& 



ON SECRET 



himself, he draws by his Spirit, and as 
this is entirely dependant on himself, he 
promises that he will do it. Therefore 
as many are called, who do not follow, 
it is perfectly certain that that mode of 
gathering, which Christ laments as hav- 
ing been fruitless and vain, must differ 
from the efficacious, of which mention is 
made elsewhere. As in Isaiah (xi. 12, 
and lviii. 8 ; xliii. 5 ; lii. 12 ; liv. 7.) 
" He will gather the dispersed of Judah ;" 
and " the glory of the Lord will gather 
you." Also " I will gather you from the 
west." Again " your God will gather 
you;" and that because he had just be- 
fore said, that God had bared his arm, 
to make his power conspicuous in the 
sight of the nations. And therefore he 
repeats a little after ; " for a moment I 
have left thee, bat with everlasting mer- 
cies will I gather thee." 

What I have said of the precepts, 
abundantly suffices to confound your 
blasphemies. For though God gives no 
pretended commands, but seriously de- 
clares what he wishes and approves ; 
yet it is in one way, that he wills the 
obedience of his elect whom he effica- 



PROVIDENCE, 



77 



ciously bends to compliance ; and in 
another that of the reprobate whom he 
warns by the external word, but does not 
see good to draw to himself. Contumacy 
and depravity are equally natural to all, so 
that none is ready and willing to assume 
the yoke. To some God promises the spirit 
of obedience ; others are left to their own 
depravity- . For however you may prate, 
the new heart is not promised indiscrimi- 
nately to all ; but peculiarly to the elect, 
that they may walk in God's precepts. 
Good critic, what think you of this ? 
When God invites the whole crowd to 
himself, and withholds knowingly, and 
willingly his Spirit from the greater part, 
while he draws the few by his secret in- 
fluence to obey, must he on that account 
be condemned as guilty of falsehood ? 



Article Eighth. 

The hardening of Pharaoh , and consequently 
his obstinacy and rebellion, were the ivork 
of God even by the testimony of Moses, 
who ascribes the whole rebellion of Pha- 
raoh to God, 



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Article Ninth. 

The will of God is the highest cause of the 
hardening of man. 

Against the Eighth and Ni?ith. 

On the eighth and ninth they inquire what Moses 
means, when he writes that Pharaoh hardened his own 
heart? Shall we interpret thus; Pha'raoh hardened his 
own heart, that is God hardened Pharaoh's heart. But 
this truly will be much more violent, than if you were 
to say God hardened Pharaoh's heart, that is God 
allowed Pharaoh to remain in the natural hardness of 
his heart, because Pharaoh had refused to obey him. 

In the next place, they ask concerning that passage, 
"To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your 
hearts." Now if you interpret this, let not God harden 
your hearts, it will he very absurd, as it would be enjoin- 
ing men to do God's work. For if it belongs to God to 
harden hearts, it is impossible to command men either 
to harden them, or not to harden them ; any more than 
to add, or take away, a cubit from their stature. 

J. Calvi?i J s Reply. 

Here again I entreat the honesty of 
my readers, to compare my language, 
and the whole strain of my teaching, 
with your garbled articles. Thus, when 
your calumny is detected, all the odium 
which you labour to excite, will vanish 
of its own accord. Meanwhile, I do not 
deny, that I have taught along with 



PROVIDENCE 



rg 



Moses and Paul, that God hardened 
Pharaoh's heart. Here you expostulate 
with me to the contempt of Moses, and 
treating his word as of no account, ask 
"When the same Moses declares, that 
Pharaoh hardened his own heart, why 
have recourse to that violent interpreta- 
tion — God hardened Pharaoh's heart ?" 
Now I need go no further for an explana- 
tion, than the ninth article, which while 
you quote, you either distort or misun- 
derstand. For if the will of God is the 
highest, or remote cause of hardening, 
then when man hardens his own heart, 
he himself is the proximate cause. I 
everywhere distinguish between primary 
and remote causes, and those which are 
mediate and proximate ; for while the 
sinner finds in himself the root of de- 
praved feeling, there is no reason why 
he should transfer his fault to God. I 
have somewhere declared that to do so, 
is just to act like the maid servant of 
Medea in the ancient Poet, " I would," 
says she, " that the pines had never 
fallen in the grove of Pelion, felled with 
hatchets to the ground." For when 
an impure woman felt herself stimulated 



80 



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by her own lust, to betray her father's 
kingdom, this foolish attendant accuses 
neither her shameless passion, nor the 
allurements of Jason, but complains that 
a ship had been built in Greece. Thus 
when a man conscious of crime, seeks 
pretexts of extenuation in remote causes, 
he ridiculously forgets himself. You 
now perceive though God in his own way 
hardens hearts, yet every one is justly 
responsible for his ow n hardness, because 
every one is hardened by his own wick- 
edness. 

The case is different Avhen hearts are 
inclined to obey God. For as by nature 
we are all prone to contumacy, no one 
will desire to act aright, unless he is 
acted upon. And yet when the Scrip- 
ture says that hearts are prepared by God, 
and that the faithful prepare themselves 
to present to God, a voluntary worship ; 
it is not inconsistent with itself, but shows 
distinctly that divine worshippers per- 
form their duty spontaneously, and with 
the voluntary affection of their hearts, 
and yet this is not inconsistent, with God 
performing his part, by the secret influence 
of his Spirit. The case is different as I 



PROVIDENCE. 



SI 



have already said in regard to hardening. 
For God does not govern the reprobate 
by the spirit of regeneration, but subjects 
and dooms them to the Devil, and by his 
secret government, so manages their de- 
praved affections, that they do nothing 
which he has not decreed. These things, 
therefore, harmonise very well ; that 
however God hardens whom he pleases, 
yet every one is to himself the cause of 
his own hardening. 

Lest I should be tedious, pious, and 
fair readers may take the help of this re- 
mark of Augustine, (Book fifth against 
Julian, chap. 3,) " Whereas the apostle 
declares that men are given over to vile 
affections," this is rashly and unskilfully 
restricted to sufferance, because the 
the same Paul elsewhere joins power 
with sufferance, saying, "if God willing 
to show his power, endured with much 
patience the vessels of wrath fitted to 
destruction," &c. And though that holy 
teacher had never spoken on this subject, 
the authority of God should of itself be 
more than enough for us. It is not 1 who 
have said that God takes away under- 
standing from princes of the earth, to 
7 



82 



ON SECRET 



cause them to err ; or that he held the 
heart of Pharaoh, that it should not be 
turned to humanity. I have not said that 
God turned the hearts of the nations, or 
strengthened them in hatred of his peo- 
ple, or hissed for the Egyptians and 
employed them as hammers. / have 
not said that Sennacherib was a rod in 
God's hand ; but the Spirit so pronounces. 
What ? when the Scriptuie also tells us 
that Saul was seized by a wicked spirit 
of God, will you refer this to allowance 
and permission merely ? How much 
better is the judgment of Augustine, 
(Book on Holy Predestination.) " If Satan 
and the wicked sin, it is of themselves ; 
if in sinning they do this or that, it is by 
the power of God dividing the darkness 
as he pleases." Whatever God openly 
declares, you impute to me. Let the 
same Augustine answer you for me, 
(On Grace and Free Will fto Val.) 
" Scripture if diligently studied, shows 
not only that God is the Lord of the 
good volitions of men, which he himself 
forms out of evil, and directs them when 
produced to good results and eternal 
life ; but that those volitions which re- 



PROVIDENCE. 



S3 



tain their worldly character, are so in 
the power of God, that he by a most 
secret, but most just judgment, inclines 
them as he pleases, and when he pleases, 
either to confer blessings, or inflict pun- 
ishments." 



Article Tenth. 

Satan is a liar by the command of God. 

Against the Tenth. 

Against the tenth they argue thus. If Satan is a liar 
by the command of God, a liar is righteous, and Satan 
is righteous. For if to command a lie is righteous, (as it 
certainly is, if Calvin speak truth.) then to obey by lying 
is also righteous ; for the righteousness of obedience is 
estimated by the righteousness of the precept. And as 
it is unrighteous to obey an unrighteous precept, so to 
obey a righteous precept is righteous. Now if Calvin 
say that Satan is not obedient in lying, that is, that he 
has no intention of obeying God, we will reply accord- 
ing to Calvin's own opinion, that this disobedient lying 
likewise, is done by the command of God ; and that in 
this disobedient lying also, Satan is obedient ; inasmuch 
as God has commanded him not to be obedient in 
lying. 

J. Calvin' s Reply. 

In the tenth article, behold against 
whom you hurl your virulent darts. For 



84 



ON SECRET 



it is no peculiarity of mine that you op- 
pose, but the dictate of the Spiiit of God. 
Thus the Scripture speaks expressly, 
whom shall I send, and who will go for 
us; and immediately after, God, ad- 
dressing Satan, bids him go, to be a 
lying spirit in the mouth of all the 
prophets, to deceive Ahab. Now bark 
as much as you please ; you will no 
more bury the glory of God by your rail- 
ing, than you will by spitting darken the 
glory of the sun. Here too it is better 
to speak in the words of Augustine, than 
in my own. u When God testifies that 
he sends false prophets, and that his hand 
is upon them that they may deceive, he 
does not mean that his patience alone is 
concerned, but his power also." As to 
your prating about Satan not being 
obedient in lying by the command of 
God, it is not wonderful if you entangle 
} 7 ourself in many knots, by not acknowl- 
edging that God in an inexplicable way, 
so employs at his pleasure the working 
of Satan, as to illustrate the justice and 
equity of his own government; without, 
however, freeing his instrument from 
blame, whom he compels against his own 



PROVIDENCE. 



85 



will to execute the divine judgment. 
Though your bitterness should rail a 
hundred times, this certainly is not the 
voice of Calvin, but of God ; " I have 
commanded my sanctified ones." (Is. 
xiii. 3.) Now if you imagine that God 
takes more to himself than is proper, he 
will himself find out a way to be freed 
from your accusation. 



Article Eleventh. 

God gives will to those doing wrong ; he 
even suggests wicJced and dishonourable 
affections, not only permissively but effica- 
ciously, and that for his own glory. 

Against the Eleventh. 

Against the eleventh they allege : Calvin refers to 
God what belongs to the Devil, as the Scripture every- 
where testifies. Now if God suggests wicked and dis- 
honourable affections, and yet commands us to resist 
such affections, he commands us to resist himself. 
Every good gift is from above, and cometh down from 
the Fat her of lights. Are wicked affections even, a good 
gift ? Does darkness (for depraved affections are cer- 
tainly darkness,) descend from the Father of lights ? 
Why then is he not called the Father of darkness? 
James distinctly writes that no man is tempted by God, 
but every one by his own lust. But to suggest base 
affections, is to tempt. Now as for your salvo about 

7* 



86 ON SECRET 

God doing this for his own glory, they say it is ridicu- 
lous, for glory does not ordinarily accrue from lying. 
When Nebuchadnezzar experienced the divine justice 
and power, in being changed for his pride into a brute 
nature, he ascribed glory to God, for he perceived and 
concluded that God is just. 

It is God's pleasure to be praised by all nations ; 
"praise the Lord all ye nations." It behoves him, 
therefore, to do those things, which all nations may be 
able to know, and moreover praise. But no nation 
will ever acknowledge, that it is just to punish men, for. 
what God himself has suggested. For we ask, if God 
should punish us for having a beard, would he not do 
us an injury ; when he himself has given us the beard, 
and it was not optional whether we should have it or 
not? What man with a beard could ever praise him ? 
Now if Calvin will say that this is the secret Providence 
of God, and to us unknown, we shall answer that God 
has indeed secrets unknown to us; but so far as justice 
is concerned, it is known to us and revealed in the Gos- 
pel : according to which revealed Gospel, (as Paul 
teaches), and not according to that hidden judgment of 
Calvin, God will judge the work!. And so it will be 
understood by all, both righteous and whked. For all, 
both righteous and wicked, will see that it is just that 
they who have disobeyed the truth, (not hidden like 
Calvin's,) but open like that of the Gospel, should be 
punished; and that they who have obeyed it should 
receive reward. "The wrath of God," says Paul, 

is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighte- 
ousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteous- 
ness." But if the opinion of Calvin is true, the wrath 
of God is revealed against all the innocent. For if he 
suggests depraved affections, he is angry and hales them 
before the depraved affections. For to suggest depraved 
affections is a work of hatred ; he consequently hates 
the innocent, inasmuch as sin springs from depraved 
affections, or rather sin is depraved affection. 



PROVIDENCE. 



87 



J. Calvin's Reply. 

You go on imagining monsters, that 
having vanquished them, you may cele- 
brate a triumph over an unoffending ser- 
vant of God. The passage where I have 
ever spoken thus, you will not find ; and 
therefore though I were silent, your min- 
gled folly and impudence are alike pow- 
erless. If the wicked defile themselves 
by slaughter, adultery, rapine, fraud, I 
teach that this comes of their own wick- 
edness ; that God, however, who brirgs 
light out of darkness, so rules within 
them, by his own secret and incompre- 
hensible government, as by means of 
their wickedness, to execute his just de- 
terminations. If you oppose this, con- 
tend with God himself, who will easily 
receive your insane assaults. If you had 
one drop of modesty and docility, this 
distinction which constantly occurs in my 
writings, would undoubtedly appease 
you. 

If the wicked examine themselves, the 
testimony of conscience will abundantly 
convince them that they must not seek 
elsewhere for criminality, because they 



88 



ON SECRET 



find the root of wickedness within, in 
their own hearts ; and yet God by sway- 
ing their volitions withersoever he plea- 
seth, makes a good use of their evil. 
Murmur as you please I have now clear- 
ly shown, that in doing so, your quarrel 
is not with me but with God. I would 
that from the heart you did acknowledge 
God as the Father of lights, just as the 
Apostle Paul defines him, (1 Tim. vi.) 
lest in your audacity you break through 
to the inaccessible light, nay, lest in your 
sacrilegious insolence you tarn that light 
into darkness. 

Moreover, you absurdly infer from the 
doctrine of James, because every perfect 
gift descends from the Father of lights, 
therefore awful judgments that strike the 
pious with fear and trembling, do not 
descend from the same source. You still 
more absurdly ask me, whether I reckon 
vicious and perverse affections among 
good gifts ; as if forsooth the spirit of 
wisdom, judgment and prudence, differ- 
ed not at all from the spirit of sleep and 
giddiness ; as if too the spirit of regene- 
ration, which renews the faithful in the 
image of God, were none other than that 



PROVIDENCE. 



89 



evil spirit of God, who drives the repro- 
bate to phrenzy, as we read of Saul. 

With similar shamelessness you cla- 
mour about my teaching that God exe- 
cutes his determinations for his own 
glory, by means of Satan and the repro- 
bate. That Satan is the instrument of 
his anger, God clearly testifies both by 
his word, and by experience. Now with 
what design shall w r e say that God does 
work by the hand of Satan, if not to il- 
lustrate his own glory ? You think you 
elude this by a witty retort, that righte- 
ousness is not ascribed to God on ac- 
count of lying ; but will you hinder God 
from bringing forth from your wicked- 
ness, the materials of his own glory ? 
Certainly by nothing less than his out- 
rageous pride, could Pharaoh prevent the 
divine glory from shining forth, inasmuch 
as he had been ordained to this very 
end. 

You allege that Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 
iv. 34,) gave glory to God when he con- 
fessed his justice ; and to show you with 
what confidence I despise your blunt 
darts, I willingly lend you a hand in this 
matter, and suggest what you did not 



90 



ON SECRET 



think of ; that when Joshua exhorted 
Achan to give glory to God, it is with no 
other design than that the latter should 
disclose the lie, and discover his own sa- 
crilege. 

Bat the question now is, whether there 
is only one way of illustrating the divine 
glory, for if this do not shine forth by the 
lies of men, Paul must have been at fault, 
when he said, " let God be true and every 
man a liar," and immediately asks, " if our 
unrighteousness commend the righteous- 
ness of God, is God himself unrighteous ?" 

As to your objection, that God would 
be praised for his benefits, it is indeed 
true, provided you allow, that the wood 
out of which God brings and leads forth 
his praises, is both thick and extensive. 
And here your pride, in ostentatiously 
despising the art of reasoning, is suitably 
punished, as you are always arguing ne- 
gatively trom the species to the genus. 
Nor wilL I honour with any long refuta- 
tion your scurrilous jibe that God were 
unjust to punish men for having a beard, 
inasmuch as they only carry the beard 
which he himself has created. For who 
has ever said that iniquity was created 



PROVIDEjNCE. 



91 



by God ? Though he does ordain it in 
his incomprehensible counsel, to just and 
righteous ends. Begone, then, with that 
foolery of yours, of confounding the beard 
which naturally grows in sleep, with vo- 
luntary wickedness. Play the madman 
as you please, this will remain fixed with 
us, that they are justly punished, whose 
wicked affections are ordained and di- 
rected by God to the execution of his 
judgments, because their own consci- 
ences condemn them. And see how you 
entangle yourself ; for while you acknowl- 
edge that God's secrets are unknown to 
us, you on the other hand object that his 
justice is known to us. But if any one 
should ask you, is there any justice in 
God's secrets, or is there not, will you 
deny that there is any ? 

Moreover, how will you say that God's 
justice is known to us, when David and 
Paul look up to it with astonishment, be- 
cause their sense fails them ? Do the 
mighty abyss, and the rich depth of wis- 
dom, in the judgments of God, contain 
justice in themselves ? Why then will 
you deny that God is just, whenever the 



92 



ON SECRET 



reason of his operations is concealed 
from vou. 

As a distinction worthy of notice, is 
made in the Book of Job, (c. xxviii.) be- 
tween the unsearchable wisdom of God, 
from which the human race is warned 
off, and that wisdom which has been 
delivered to us in the law ; so you also, 
unless you mean to confound everything, 
should have distinguished between that 
profound and admirable justice, which 
cannot be comprehended by the human 
mind, and the rule of justice which is 
prescribed in the law, for the regulation 
of the life of man. I acknowledge that 
God will judge the world, according to 
the revealed doctrine of the Gospel ; but 
he will at the same time vindicate the 
equity of his secret providence against 
all wranglers. 

Now, if you had the smallest experi- 
mental acquaintance, w T ith that Gospel 
which you prate about, } r ou would easily 
understand how God remunerates the 
justice which is commanded in his law, 
and never defrauds those of the promised 
crown, who heartily obey his precepts ; 
and yet justly punishes all the disobe- 



PROVIDENCE, 



93 



dient, whom he also terms his servants, 
because he has their hearts in his hand. 
Thus, Nebuchadnezzar, a furious robber, 
and slave of Satan, is not without reason 
called by Jeremiah a servant of God. 
(Jer. xxv. 9.) And if I have taught that 
God opens up a way for his own purposes, 
by inciting the hearts of men this way 
and that, why should the statement be 
imputed to me as a crime, when prophets 
have said precisely the same thing ; these 
being in fact the words of the sacred his- 
tory, (2 Sam. xxiv. 1,) " And again the 
anger of the Lord was kindled against 
Israel; and he moved David against 
them to say. Go, numbei the people." 



Article Twelfth. 

The wicked, by their wickedness, do God's 
work rather than their own. 

Against the Twelfth. 

Of the twelfth they discourse thus, if it be so, God is 
angry with what is good ; for if impiety is the work of 
God, impiety is good ; for all the works of God are 
good. And if impiety is good, then piety is evil, mas- 
8 



94 



On SECRET 



much as it is the opposite of impiety. Therefore, when 

Scripture says, " hate' evil/' " Jove good/' it enjoins the 
love of impiety, and the hatred ol piety. They allege 
besides, that such an article, savours sufficiently of a 
kind of Libertinism, and they are surprised you are so 
hostile to Libertines. 

J. Calvin's Reply. 

I again testify before God, angels, and 
the whole world, that I never spake thus, 
and that w T hat was correctly spoken by 
me, is most wickedly and ealumniously 
perverted by you. But if it seem absurd 
to you that the wicked should do God's 
work, upbraid Jeremiah, whose words 
these are " Cursed is the man who 
doeth God's work negligently." Now, 
he refers to a massacre, which you will 
not clear of criminality, as it is manifest, 
it was prompted by avarice, cruelty, and 
pride. The Chaldeans were impelled by 
their own ambition, and lust of plunder, 
to forget equity, and inhumanly to wade 
through rapine and carnage. But as it 
pleased God by their hands to punish the 
Moabites, their wickedness did not pre- 
vent the execution of the divine judgment. 
Here, dog, your bark is, then impiety is 
good ; as if God were impious, when he 



PROVIDENCE. 



95 



accommodates in his own wonderful way, 
human wickedness, to a different end 
from that intended by the perpetrator. 
Hay, you scruple not to taunt me with 
the Libertines, a sect whose ravings have 
been by me especially exposed, so that I 
have no new defence to offer. 



Article Thirteenth. 

We sin necessarily by the design of God, 
when we sin by our own, or by chance. 

Article Fourteenth. 

The wickedness which men perpetrate by 
their own volition, proceeds also from the 
volition of God. 

Against the Thirteenth and Fourteenth. 

Against the thirteenth and fourteenth, they argue in 
this way. If we sin necessarily, all admonitions are in 
vain. In vain are the people admonished by Jeremiah, 
" I set before you the way of life and death. Whoever 
nhall remain in this city, shall die by the sword, by fa- 
mine, or pestilence; but he who flees to the Chaldeans 
shall live." These things, I say, were declared to them 
in vain, if it were as impossible for them to flee to the 
Chaldeans, as to swallow a mountain. Now if Calvin 
shall say, that precepts are given for the purpose of ren- 



96 



ON SECRET 



dering men inexcusable, we reply that this is futile. For 
if you command four son to eat a rock, and he do it not, 
he is no more inexcusable after the injunction than be- 
fore. In the same way if God say to me do not steal, 
and I steal necessarily, and I can no more abstain from 
stealing, than I can eat a rock, I am no more inexcusable 
after the precept than before, nor more excusable, before 
the precept than after. 

In fine, if Calvin's opinion is true, a man is inexcusa- 
ble even before the precept; so that there is no occasion 
for a precept to ensure that inexcusableness. For if the 
wicked m m is repiobate, before he is wicked, that is, 
before he exists, viz. from Eternity, and so sins neces- 
sarily, he is already inexcusable, and condemned before 
the precept, which is against all laws divine and human. 
For all laws condemn a man after the crime, and on ac- 
count of the crime. But that God of Calvin condemned 
and reprobated the wicked before they existed, not to 
say before they were wicked, or had sinned; and because 
he condemned them before they sinned, he compels them 
to sin, that he may appear, forsooth, to have condemned 
them justly. In fine, Calvin, they here contrast your 
God, and theirs in this way. 

The Nature of a False God. 

A false God is slow to mercy, prone to anger, creating 
the greatest part of the world for destruction, and pre- 
destinat n<* them not only to damnation, but to the causes 
of damnation. Therefore he decreed from eternitv, and 
still determines, and brings it about, that they should sin 
necessarily, so that neither thefts, nor adulteries, nor 
homicides are committed, except by his will and impulse. 
For he suggests to them wicked and base affections, not 
only permissively but efficaciously, and hardens them ; 
so that while they live impiously, they do God's work 
rather than their own, and cannot do otherwise. He 
makes Satan a liar; so that itis no longer Satan, but ihe 
God of C ilvin, who is the father of lies, as he has often 
one thing in his mouth, and another in his heart. 



PROVIDENCE. 



97 



The Nature of the True God. 

But the God whom nature and reason, and Scripture 
proclaim is evidently opposed to the other, for he is 
prone to mercy? and slow to auger. He created the 
common father of all in his own image, like himself, tint 
he might place him in paradise, and endow him with a 
blessed existence. This God wishes all to he saved, and 
none to perish ; and therefore sent his Son to earth, 
whose righteousness more than abounded where sin 
abounded, and the light of whose righteousness illumines 
every man that conies into the world, while he exclaims, 
" Come unto me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, 
and I will give you rest." He suggests good and hon- 
ourable affections, and frees men from the necessity of 
sinning into which they had cast themselves by disobe- 
dience, and heals all manner of sxkness and disease 
among the people, so that he never denied a favour to 
any one that besought him. 

Now this God comes to destroy the works of that 
Calvinistic God, and to turn him out of doors. And 
these two Gods as they are by nature contrary to one 
another, so they beget children equally unlike. The one 
produces children who are merciless, proud, savage, 
envious, sanguinary, false, thinking one thing, and 
speaking another, impatient, malicious, seditious, 
contentious, ambitious, avaricious, lovers of plea- 
sure, more than lovers of God; in a word, filled with 
all bad and vile affections, which their Father himself 
inspires them with. But the other God produces men, 
who are merciful, modest, meek, benevolent, beneficent, 
abhorring blood, open, speaking truth from the fulness 
of the heart, patient, benign, placable, peaceable, abhor- 
ring quarrels and strife, despisers of honour, liberal, 
lovers of God, more than the lovers of pleasure ; in fine 
filled with all good and honourable affections, which 
their own Father inspires them with. 

Such are the things. Oh Calvin, which your adversa 
ries allege respecting your doctrine ; and they advise 
men to judge of the doctrine bv the fruit. Now they 

8* 



98 



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affirm that you and your disciples, bring forth many of 
the fruits of your God ; for that you are generally litigi- 
ous, eager for vengeance, tenacious and mindful of an 
injury, and tainted with the other vices which your Fa- 
ther inspires. But if any one should say that this is not 
the fault of the doctrine which is sound, and does not 
produce such men ; they reply that it does produce such 
men, which is evident from the fact, that many who have 
adopted that creed, are become such, while formerly they 
were not so wicked. Whereas those who believe the 
doctrine of Christ become better; but they say that 
your doctrine evidently makes men worse. 

Besides, when you maintain that you have sound doc- 
trine, they reply that you are not to be believed. For, 
if your God very often says one thing, and thinks and 
wills another, there is reason to fear that m imitation of 
your God, you are doing the same thing, and deceiving 
men. 

It is true, I have at one time, been rather fond of your 
doctrine, and have defended it though it has not been al- 
together satisfactory to me ; because I have attributed so 
much to your authority, as to imagine it unlawful even 
to think anything in opposition to it. But now that I 
have listened to the arguments of your adversaries, I 
have nothing to reply. Your disciples doubtless attempt 
a reply, and among their own partizans, loudly boast of 
the truth; but when they close with your adversaries, 
they waver, and seek a poor protection in your books. 
For your reasons are obscure, and are almost entirely 
of the sort, which fall out of the memory, as soon as the 
book is laid aside, and yield no conviction to oppo^ers. 
Whereas the arguments of your adversaries, are clear, 
keen, easily remembered and apprehensible by the il- 
literate — the very description of men who chiefly follow- 
ed Christ. Heuce it happens that your disciples, in 
general, lean more on your authority, than on reason. 
And when they cannot refute their opponents, they re- 
gard them as heretics, and obstinate persons, withdraw 
from their society and warn all to do the same. Now, 



PROVIDENCE. 



99 



as it is my opinion, that we should attend to what is said, 
and not to the person speaking, so I judge that all must 
be heard, and every thing proved, that what is good may 
be held fast. 

Wherefore. Oh Calvin, if you have any true, plain, 
solid arguments, by which the adversaries may be repel- 
led, I entreat you to publish them for the defence of the 
truth. You know what is written, " a mouth and a wis- 
dom shall be given you, which none shall be able to 
resist." For my part, wherever I can lay hold of truth, 
I am prepared to follow ; as well as to exhort others to 
do the same. But if by chance you are mistaken, I be- 
seech you, Calvin, give glory to God. That will be more 
honourable to you, than to persevere in error. If you 
are just and true, I do not think I need entertain any 
fears about your indignation, on account of this epistle. 
In the first place, because it belongs to you to be informed 
of these things ; and in the next place, because if you 
feel (as you soy,) that all things come to pass necessarily, 
you will believe also that it was impossible, that this let- 
ter should not have been written by me. Farewell. 



J, CalvirCs Reply. 

What you mean in the last article but 
one, I no more understand, than if you 
intended to confound human apprehen- 
sion by magical mutterings. For what 
is it to sin by chance ? And who, ex- 
cept yourself has conjured up such mon- 
sters ? I have said somewhere, that 
those things which seem to happen by 
chance, are governed by the secret Pro- 
vidence of God. Who will allow you to 



100 



ON SECRET 



infer from this that sin is fortuitous ? And 
then as for what is found in -my writings, 
did it originate with me ? Oi has it not 
rather God for its author ? If the hatch- 
et of a man cutting the branches of a tree, 
fall and wound the head of a passenger, 
w r ill you regard this as a matter of 
chance ? But the Holy Spirit, by Moses, 
declares that such a man is slain by God. 
Will you say that God, like one drunk, 
deals his blows at random, right and left, 
without discrimination ? 

Now if you fancy that men sin without 
the knowledge of God, how will God 
judge the world ? And if the transac- 
tions of the world escape his notice, how 
will he have the advantage of mortals ? 
Because I maintain that God is perfect- 
ly aware of the sins of men, you go so 
far in your phrenzy, as to accuse me of 
framing a false God. If I should grant 
you what you demand, that God is igno- 
rant of sin, what kind of God pray you 
will he be ? And will you still boast that 
the people are with you, when depriving 
God of intelligence, and dignifying him 
with the same title that Lucretius did his 



PROVIDENCE. 



101 



inages, you fabricate a dead idol in his 
p.ace ? 

As to your argument that teaching is 
superfluous, precepts useless, admoni- 
tions vain, upbraiding and threats ab- 
surd, if men sin necessarily ; if Augus- 
the's book to Valentinus, " Concerning 
Corruption and Grace," a work expressly 
d?voted to this subject, is not sufficient to 
dissipate these objections, you are un- 
worthy to hear a word from me. As my 
refutation of Pighius, and your master 
Servetus, in regard to this calumny, is 
quite satisfactory to all reasonable and 
candid, readers, I will now r merely re- 
turn this brief answer to your boasting. 
If you will allow God to command no- 
thing, that man has not power to obey, 
God will make it plain enough, when he 
shall place you at his tribunal, that he 
made no vain assertion by the mouth of 
his apostle, when he declared that to be 
impossible to the law, which he himself 
performed by his own grace. (Rom. viii. 
4.) It is certain that a perfect righteous- 
ness is exhibited in the law, which would 
be prepared and set forth to all, if our 
strength were adequate to yield obedi- 



102 



ON SECRET 



ence to the commands of God. Nov 
Paul declares it was impossible to attain 
to righteousness by the law. What dis- 
pute then have you on this point with 
Calvin ? If you steal necessarily, you 
suppose that you are no less excusable, 
after the precept than before. Paul, on. 
the contrary, when he confesses that he 
was sold under sin, at the same time 
freely exclaims, that the law worketn 
wrath, because the shield of necessity is 
in vain held forth, when every man is 
convicted by his conscience of voluntary 
malignity. Tell me, when the hook was 
in your hand, of late years, for the pur- 
pose of stealing wood, to warm your 
house, was it not } r our own will that 
prompted you to steal ? If this alone 
suffice for your just condemnation, that 
knowingly and willingly 3^ou snatched at 
a base and wicked gain, by your neigh- 
bour's loss, you may rave as you please 
about necessitv, without beinj* in the 
least justly acquitted. As to your ob- 
jection, that no one is justly condemned, 
unless on account of crime, and after 
crime, I have no quarrel with you on the 
former point, since I everywhere teach 



PROVIDENCE 



103 



that no one perishes, except by the just 
judgment of God. At the same time I 
may not dissemble that a secret venom 
lurks in your language ; for if the simili- 
tude you propose is admitted, God will 
be unjust for involving the whole family 
of Abraham, in the guilt of original sin. 

. You deny that it is lawful for God to 
condemn any man, except on account of 
actual sin. Innumerable infants are, to | 
this day, hurried out of life. Discharge 
now your virulence against God, for pre- 
cipitating into eternal death innocent 
babes torn from their mother's breasts. 
Whoever detests not this blasphemy, 
when it is openly detected, may curse 
me to his heart's content. For I have no 
right to demand exemption from the rail- 
ings of those who spare not the Almighty 
himself. 

As to the latter point, do you not see 
how^ offensive is your loquacity. For 
even your master Servetus, and Pighius, 
and such like dogs, would say at least, 
that those were condemned before the 
creation of the world, whom God fore- 
knew to be worthy of death. You, for- 
sooth, will not allow him to doom any 



104 



ON SECRET 



one to eternal death, till such time as he 
becomes obnoxious to earthly judges, by 
the actual perpetration of crime, Hence 
let the reader learn how prodigious must 
be that phrenzy, which unhesitatingly 
subverts by jeer and banter, the whole 
course of divine justice. 

It remains that I vindicate the glory of 
the true and eternal God, from your sa- 
crilegious revilings. You loudly charge 
me with thrusting the Devil into the place 
of the true God. My defence is brief 
and easy. As all my writings clearly 
testify, that I had no other design, than 
that the whole world, should piously and 
holily devote itself to God ; and that all 
should cultivate in good conscience true 
righteousness with each other ; so my life 
is not inconsistent with my doctrine ; nor 
will I be so unjust to the grace of God, as 
to compare myself with you, and those 
like you, whose innocence is nothing 
more than compliment and self-flattery. 
This only will I say, if any upright and 
fair judge should decide betwixt us, he 
would readily recognise reverence for 
God, both in my writings, and in my 
life ; while everything proceeding from 



PROV IDEKC£ 



105 



you, savours of nothing but mere bur- 
lesque upon religion. 

Now, briefly to confound your calum- 
nies, can anything surpass your want of 
principle in contending that God would 
be slow to mercy, and prone to anger, if 
he ordained the greater part of the world 
to eternal death ? Beyond all question, 
fancy what kind of God you please, he 
alone is to be worshipped by all the 
pious ; who, with the exception of the 
family of Abraham, suffered the whole 
human family to wander in fatal dark- 
ness, for more than twenty-five hundred 
years. If you charge him w r ith cruelty, 
for determining that innumerable nations 
should be overwhelmed in death, while 
one family alone was distinguished by 
the life giving light ; the answer is evi- 
dent, that while the nations w T ere spared 
from day to day, and the world was not 
swallowed up a hundred times in a year, 
just as often did God afford illustrious 
displays of his patience. Nor in truth 
has Paul any hesitation iu praising God's 
lenjty and long-suffering, even when he 
maintains, that the vessels of wrath were 
fitted for destruction, by his secret de- 
9 



106 



ON SECRET 



cree. If you are not satisfied with his 
testimony, I think I may safely despise 
your barking. For God needs no defence 
at my hand, but will sufficiently vindi- 
cate his own justice, although all impure 
tongues should emulously conspire to 
overshadow it. Wherefore, you and 
your gang, may hurl aloft your blasphe- 
mies as you please, to fall back again on 
your own heads. It is no hardship to 
me, patiently to endure your levilings, 
provided the God whom I serve is not 
reached ; and I must be allowed to sum- 
mon you to his tribunal, where he will in 
his own time appear, to avenge that doc- 
trine, which in my person you furiously 
oppose. 

Readers of any discernment will ap- 
preciate the value of your discourse, 
about the nature of the true God, when 
they observe that in all inquiry upon the 
subject, you make common sense the 
starting point. The existence of God it 
is tiue was admitted by all nations and 
ages ; since the principle and seed of 
this knowledge, was naturally implanted 
in the mind of man. But how shall rea- 
son define what God is, when with all 



PROVIDENCE. 



107 



her perspicacity, she can do nothing but 
turn the truth of God into a lie, thereby 
adulterating all the knowledge and light 
of true faith and religion ? The Holy 
Spirit commands us to become fools, if 
we would be disciples of the heaven- 
ly doctrine ; inasmuch as the natural 
man is unable to receive or taste aught 
of it. You on the other hand would have 
the human faculty decide on the myste- 
ries of God ; and reason, which in its 
blindness, utterly extinguishes the divine 
glory, you not only set up as a guide and 
mistress, but presume to prefer to Scrip- 
ture itself. So that, it is not wonderful 
if you allow the most opposite religions 
to be promiscuously confounded ; esteem- 
ing the Turk steeped in the dreams of 
Mahomet, and adoring, I know not what, 
unknown divinity, no less a worshipper 
of the true God, than the Christian, who 
with the unwavering faith of the Gospel, 
calls on the Father of our Redeemer. 
Now, although so many indirect jeers at 
all the first principles of our faith do not 
aloud declare that you are the open, 
earnest patron of the infidels, yet your 
object was, by palliating the superstitions 



108 



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of all nations, to subvert the religion of 
the sacred oracles of the true God. From 
that reason doubtless, which is the moth- 
er of all errors, has sprung that God of 
yours, who indiscriminately resolves that 
all shall be saved. As if forsooth, the 
word election which occurs so often in 
the Scriptures, had absolutely no mean- 
ing ; when the law, the prophets, and 
the Gospel, everywhere proclaim, that 
they are called and enlightened to salva- 
tion, who were chosen in God's eternal 
counsel before the foundation of the 
world ; and unambiguously declare that 
the fountain and cause of life, is the free 
love of God, which embraced not all, but 
whom he pleased. What do you gain by 
a hundred railings on the other side ? You 
bewilder the simple by raising a mist, 
about God wishing all to be saved. If 
this is inconsistent with that election, 
predestinated his own children to life, I 
demand why the way of salvation is not 
thrown open to all. That eulogium of 
the law is well known and celebrated, 
" behold I have this day set before you 
life and death." If God determined to 
gather all without distinction into salva- 



PROVIDENCE. 



109 



tion, why did he not set life equally be- 
fore all, instead of distinguishing but one 
nation by this prerogative ; and that for 
no other reason, if we believe Moses, ex- 
cept his free favour for those, whom he 
chose for his own. 

You say that Christ was divinely sent, 
in order that his righteousness might su- 
perabound wherever sin abounded. But 
this one word proves, that you came 
forth from beneath, at the prompting of 
Satan. You insolently deride Christ, 
while you seek to cover up every, the 
grossest, falsehood, in the colours of 
piety. For if the righteousness of Christ 
has superabounded, w T herever sin abound- 
ed, the condition of Pilate or Judas, will 
be no worse than that of Peter or Paul. 
And though I should say nothing of 
Pilate, Paul denies that the righteousness 
of Christ, can be separated from the faith 
of the Gospel, (Eph. vi. 9.) Will you tell 
us what Gospel was in France, and other 
remote nations at the time when Christ 
lived on earth ? What ? Was God not 
the same before the coming of his Son ? 
Why then did he seal up the treasure of 
salvation till the fulness of time ? You 
9* 



110 



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must burst into laughter at Paul's 
doctrine, about the mystery being hid 
before in God, which was revealed in 
the promulgation of the Gospel. And 
now that the sound of the Gospel is pro- 
claimed, the righteousness of Christ 
comes to none but those, who receive it 
by faith. Now whence have you faith ? 
If you answer by hearing ; it is indeed 
true ; but the hearing is not independent 
of the special revelation of the Spirit, 
Isaiah (liii. 1,) exclaims in surprise, at 
the fewness of those to whom the arm of 
the Lord is revealed ; and when Paul 
restricts the gift of faith to the elect, he 
refers to that passage as evidence. You 
allow no distinction. Christ indeed 
cries, " Come unto me all ye that labour," 
but he also exclaims in another place, 
" no man comes to rne, except the Father 
draw him." Nor does he contradict him- 
self, when inviting all without exception 
by the external voice, he yet declares 
that no man perceives anything, except 
as it is given him from heaven ; and that 
none come to him except those who are 
given him by the Father. 

Another passage you no less foully be- 



PROVIDENCE. 



lit 



smear, with your swinish snout ; (John 
i. 4,) alleging that every man that 
comes into the world, is illuminated with 
the light of Christ's righteousness. As 
if John did not add immediately after ; 
" the light shineth in darkness, and the 
darkness comprehended it not intend- 
ing to declare, that whatever reason and 
intelligence had been given to men at 
first, were suffocated and almost destroy- 
ed ; and that the only remedy remain- 
ing, is the light which Christ bestows 
on the blind. It is no doubt true, that 
Christ denied mercy to none that asked 
it ; but vou do not reflect that vows and 
prayers are dictated by the Holy Spirit ; 
nay that faith which is the fruit of 
gratuitous election, is the key which 
opens the gate to prayers. 

While you are ignorant of these first 
principles, the denial of wdiich reduces 
the gospel to a level with the rites of 
Proserpine and Bacchus, it is surprising 
that any called christians should be 
found, entangling; themselves with errors 
so enormous. As to your flippant inso- 
lence, about my disciples being like my 
God, cruel, envious, calumnious, proud, 



11% 



ON SECRET 



carrying one thing on their tongue, 
another in their heart, I will undertake 
to refute it not so much by word, as by 
fact. As I have no delight in evil speak- 
ing, let your crimes remain unnoticed by 
me ; except that I am at liberty, and it is 
worth while, to testify before God to this 
one thing, that although I have fed you in 
my house, I never beheld a man prouder, 
more deceitful, or more destitute of hu- 
manity than yourself. That man is 
without all judgment, who does not per- 
ceive you to be, at once an impostor, an 
abandoned cj^nic in } r our impudence, 
and a buffoon avowedly scoffing at reli- 
gion. 1 would fain know in what you 
accuse me of barbarity ; unless possibly 
you refer to your master Servetus ; yet 
the judges themselves, two of whom 
were his zealous patrons, are witnesses to 
the fact of my having interceded in his 
behalf. But enough of myself, and more 
than enough. 

What fruits my doctrine produces, not 
only in this city, but wide and far through 
many lands, I leave for the consideration 
of all. From this school, which you so 
atrociously assail, God daily chooses vie- 



PROVIDENCE. 



i 13 



tirns, of the best and sweetest odour, to 
illustrate the doctrine of his Gospel. The 
students theie, (of whom the number at 
least is respectable,) exemplify a painful 
abstinence, and yet are conspicuous for 
patience and gentleness ; or discarding 
former luxuries, they are forward and 
contented in the practice of frugality. 
Denying themselves and the world, they 
all aspire to the hope of a blessed immor- 
tality. But because it is inexpedient 
foi me to boast, let the Lord answer for 
me, by those displays of his favour, 
which he has given in behalf of that doc- 
trine, which is in vain assailed by your 
foetid abuse. 

But I should like to be informed by 
you, respecting }^our character, when 
you favoured this doctrine. You allege 
that it had not been sufficiently under- 
stood by you, in consequence of your be- 
ing hampered by my authority, so that 
you held it unlawful to form any opposite 
opinion. You must assuredly have been 
too dull, not to comprehend in several 
years, what I both taught you familiarly 
at home, and so frequently expounded in 
your hearing in the puljiic assembly. 



114 



ON SECRET 



Now there are many competent wit- 
nesses to prove, that although I failed in 
the various attempts I made to correct 
and cure your depravity of temper, yet 
so long as } r ou kept up appearances with 
me, you were restrained as by a bridle ; 
so that the cause of your alienation, may 
well seem to have been, that very licen- 
tiousness, which sought uncurbed, to 
break to the impiety in which you now 
glory. 

You tell us you mind what is said, not 
who speaks. Would that you had 
brought yourself before this, candidly to 
profit by the labours of others, and thus 
to form a habit of docility. As it is, 
your only accomplishments being auda- 
city and garrulity, you seek consequence 
for yourself, by despising others. For 
my part, I arrogate nothing to myself, 
but I think I have deserved this of the 
church, that if I may rank among the 
faithful servants of God, my authority 
should not be rendered odious. If you 
said that a few unlearned men hung on 
mv nod, or were influenced by my repu- 
tation, you might give some colour to 
your calumny ; but now while you make 



PROVIDENCE. 



115 



it my fault that illiterate men are dis- 
pleased with my doctrine, who will 
believe you that learned and ingenious 
men alone relish my books ; nay that 
such men are held thunderstruck by 
mere authority, from forming an indepen- 
dent opinion ? 

So far as your authority goes then, 
nothing is proved that is not rendered 
plausible to the vulgar. And this, for- 
sooth, is the reason why you deter all 
from liberal learning ; and to gain more 
disciples, boast to your followers, that all 
study is vain and frivolous, which is em- 
ployed in philosophy, logic, and other 
arts, and even in theology itself. You 
object that the followers of Christ were 
of this charactei ; as if there were any 
inconsistency between literature, and the 
Christian faith. Here let readers observe 
the difference between you and me. I 
maintain that the wisest men are blinded 
by their own pride, and never even 
taste the heavenly doctrine, till such 
time as they become fools, and com- 
manding their own notions to be gone, 
devote themselves in meek simplicity to 
the obedience of Christ. For human 



116 



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reason is utterly undiscerning, and hu- 
man acuteness stupid, in the mysteries 
of God. Therefore, 1 say that humility 
is the beginning of true wisdom ; a hu- 
mility that empties us of all carnal wisdom, 
so that faith may begin in reverence for 
divine mysteries. You invite illiterate 
men to come forward, and despising all 
learning, and inflated merely with the 
breath of arrogance, audaciously to de- 
cide on die mysteries of heaven ; nor 
will you acknowledge any as legitimate 
arbiters, except those, who satisfied with 
common notions, stoutly reject what- 
ever does not suit their fancy. 

The Apostle Paul will easily answer 
another reproach, which you cast on my 
disciples, for they have his authoiity, for 
leaving you and such like heretics to 
yourselves ; rather than b}^ listening to 
you, voluntarily to pollute their ears with 
your blasphemies. You deny that such is 
the proper course, for that all should be 
heard. As if, indeed, there were no 
meaning in the command, to avoid a 
heretic who refuses to repent, after the 
second and third solemn admonition. If 
any man denied you a hearing, you 



PROVIDENCE. 



117 



would have some ground for complaint ; 
but when you went away vanquished 
from the public assembly, at which you 
had full scope to babble, nay to which 
you had been summoned and almost 
dragged ; what limit, pray, will there be, 
if pious ears must be always open, till 
your appetite for God-reviling may be 
satiated? You take no oidinary plea- 
sure in ridiculing all pious principles. 
Would you have the sons of God so stu- 
pid, as either to be pleased with your 
insolence, or to listen unmoved to your 
sacrilegious reviling. 

So far as the cause itself is concerned 
I am confident I have so answered you, 
that all judicious readers may easily dis- 
cern, that that Spirit has not been with- 
held from me, to whom it belongs to 
grant a mouth and wisdom, which if you 
persist in resisting, you will betray an 
obstinacy equalled only by your disgrace. 
I shall not cease to wish and to pray, 
though I dare scarcely hope, that you 
may at length yield to manifest truth. 

As to your concluding cavil, that I have 
no reason to be provoked at your abuse, 
if I believe that your writing was neces- 



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ON SECRET 



sary ; it is indeed to my mind a serious 
and efficacious exhortation to self-pos- 
session, inasmuch as nothing is more use- 
ful, or better adapted, for bridling indig- 
nation, than David's admonition, " let 
him curse for God has so commanded." 
David, it is true, was well aware that 
Shimei was instigated by that same lust 
for railing, with which you now boil ; 
but believing that the impetuous abuse, 
which the railer fancied himself uttering 
at random, was ordered by the secret 
Providence of God, the monarch is re- 
strained by his religious convictions. 
For no mart will ever endure with calm 
moderation, the assaults of the Devil and 
the wicked, who does not turn his thoughts 
from them to God alone. 

May God quell thee, Satan ! Amen ! 

Geneva, 5th January, 1558. 



UiJe'25 



